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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Hiotographic 

Sdoices 

Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  institut  canaaien  de  microreproductions  historiquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notat/Notet  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


tot 


The  Institute  hes  sttempted  to  obtein  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  ere  checked  below. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I     I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagie 


□   Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurte  et/ou  pelliculAe 

□   Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  g6ographlques  en  couleur 


D 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I — I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


D 


D 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  failure  serrde  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intArieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  pr  ut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ejout6es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais.  iorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  M  filmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilmA  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  At6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exempleire  qui  sent  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  imege  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  fi!mage 
sont  indiqute  ci-dessous. 


I      I   Coloured  pages/ 


D 
D 


Pages  de  couieur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restauries  et/ou  peilicul^es 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe< 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachettes  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachdes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplimentaire 


I — I  Pages  damaged/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

I — I  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I      I  Pages  detached/ 

I      I  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponibie 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totaiement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  peiure, 
etc.,  ont  M  fiim6es  it  nouveau  de  fagon  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Thi 
poi 
oft 
filn 


Orl 
bet 
the 
sio 
otii 
firs 
sioi 
orl 


Thi 
shfl 

Tin 

wh 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  su  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


7 


26X 


XX 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


fttails 
t  du 
lodifier 
r  un« 
^mage 


Th«  copy  filmad  h«r«  has  b««n  r«produc«d  thank* 
to  tha  ganarotlty  of: 

Victoria  Univartity, 
EmiMnutl  Colitgt  Library 

Tho  imago*  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possiblo  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibillty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacif ioatlons. 


L'axamplaira  fiimA  fut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
gAnArositA  da: 

Victoria  Univartity, 
EmmaiHial  Cdiaga  Library 


Las  imagas  sulvantas  ont  4tA  raprodultas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  raxamplaira  filmA.  at  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  capias  In  printad  papar  covers  ara  filmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  approprlata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  beginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impres- 
sion, and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printed 
or  illustratad  impression. 


es 


Les  exemplairas  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  salt  par  la 
darnlAre  paga  qui  comporta  una  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  las  autras  exemplairas 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commen^ant  par  la 
pramlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  an  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^»-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED ").  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  —►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE ',  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  tha  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  do  rAduction  diff  Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  soul  clichA,  il  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  disgrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


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2 

3 

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\^:mH 

•'THE  SAILORS   MARVEL  AS  THEY   SEE   HIM  GAZING  WISTFULLY 
AFTER  THE  DEPARTING  SHIPS."  -/.  40. 


/iMiD  Greenland  Snows 


OR 


€]jt  (Earlt)  l&iatorg  of  ^niit  iKissioua. 


BY 


JESSE    PAGE 


I 

if 


AUTHOR  OF   "  DAVID  BKAINBRD,  THB  APOSTLE  TO  THE  NORTH   AMB.HICAN 

INDIANS  ;  "    "  SAMUEL  CROWTHBR,  THB  SLAVE  BOY   WHO  BECAME 

BISHOP  OF  THE  NIGER;"  "  C.   H.   SPURGBON,   HIS  LIFE 

AND  MINISTRY,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


Who  will  the  heathen  of  the  Arctic  save? 
Brave  souls  in  answer  willingly  arose 
To  bear  His  Cross  of  Peace,  and  heal  the  woes 

Of  those  who  knew  no  hope  beyond  the  grave. 


FLEMING    H.    REVELL    COMPANY 

NEW    YORK  CHICAGO  TORONTO 

Publishers  of  Evangtlical  Literature. 


^'^ 


E7 


1 DV348 


EGEDE   TENDING   THE  SICK. 


PREFACE. 


LITTLE  is  said  about  the  Arctic  regions  in  the 
history  of  Christian  Missions.  And  yet  I  am 
bold  enough  to  think  that  a  perusal  of  these 
pages  will  justify  the  statement  that  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  North  Pole  there  has  been  as 
patient  and  heroic  endeavour  in  the  cause  of  the 
Cross  as  in  the  fiery  zone  of  the  Equator.  The 
workers  have  been  fewer  and  undistinguished,  but  they 
were  men  singularly  free  from  ostentation,  content  to 
keep  pegging  away  at  the  work  as  it  lay  ready  to 


VI 


PREFACE. 


hand.  The  genuine  missionary  spirit  burned  in  their 
breast,  while  the  conditions  under  which  they  have 
laboured  were  trying  to  the  last  degree.  If  patience 
is  a  special  quality  of  the  true  missionary,  these 
saints  surely  had  a  double  portion  of  it.  In  their 
experience  this  virtue  had  its  perfect  work,  and  if  there 
is  one  characteristic  more  than  another  which  strikes 
the  student  of  their  life,  it  is  their  marvellous  endur- 
ance of  heart  and  purpose  when,  humanly  speaking, 
the  prospect  seemed  hopeless  indeed.  Such  men 
deserve  to  be  remembered  with  honour. 

Hans  Egede,  the  principal  figure  in  this  present 
volume,  was  a  man  of  such  stamp  and  mould. 

When  I  first  began  the  work  of  research,  he  was 
to  me  comparatively  unknown,  for  scarcely  anything 
about  him  appears  in  the  literature  of  this  generation, 
and  his  fuller  history  lies  hidden  in  scarce  volumes 
of  Norwegian,  Danish,  and  German  biography.  As 
I  pored  over  the  yellow,  time-stained  pages  of  some 
old  calf-bound  English  octavos,  life  began  again  to 
stir  within  them,  and  slowly  the  personality  of  this 
remarkable  man  became  vivid  on  the  horizon  of  that 
far-off  time.  Gradually  as  the  focus  cleared  the  inter- 
cepting haze,  I  seemed  to  look  into  the  eyes  of 
this  man,  so  full  of  pleading  love  and  loyal  patience, 
as  he  stood  by  the  side  of  his  Greenlanders  in  the 
snow.  Certainly  I  shall  be  satisfied  if  in  even  a 
modified  degree  my  portrayal  of  Egede  helps  others 
to  share  my  fellowship  with  this  simple  and  beautiful 
character.    A  trifle  old-fashioned  he  may  seem  in 


PREFACE. 


VII 


int 


thought  as  in  dress,  but  he  stands  in  the  line  of  saintly 
succession,  and  drank  of  the  same  Divine  fount  which 
inspired  the  heart  of  St.  Paul. 

In  describing  the  habits  of  life  and  religious  ideas 
of  the  Greenlanders,  it  will  be  found  that  the  follow- 
ing pages  deal  more  especially  with  the  natives  as 
Egede  found  them ;  their  subsequent  contact  with 
European  traders,  and  the  wide-spread  teaching  of 
Christianity  have,  of  course,  considerably  modified 
these  characteristics.  Although  usually  credited  with 
mental  sluggishness,  these  Greenlanders  were  evi- 
dently quick-witted  enough  in  arguments  with  the 
missionaries,  and  the  reader  will,  no  doubt,  be  struck 
with  the  family  likeness  between  many  of  the  objec- 
tions of  these  poor  philosophers  in  fur  ;  nd  the  diffi- 
culties raised  by  so-called  lovers  of  wisdom  to-day. 
But  while  we  recognise  the  old  shadow  darkening 
their  intelligence  and  pity  them  in  their  ignorance, 
we  also  see  in  their  case  the  demonstration  of  that 
Divine  energy  by  which  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
chases  away  all  clouds  and  brings  to  the  heart  of  man 
light  and  peace.  Like  most  pioneers  it  was  not 
given  to  Egede  to  see  the  full  fruition  of  his  labours, 
but  in  those  years  of  tearful  sowing  he  beheld,  like 
Abraham,  by  faith  the  promise  of  God  fulfilled,  and 
died  in  sight  of  that  glorious  harvest  which  his 
successors  reaped. 

The  Moravian  Brethren  who  took  up  the  thread  of 
his  work,  and  have  quietly  and  steadfastly  maintained 
it  until  this  day,  deserve  a  much  better  record  than 


VIII 


PREFACE. 


the  limits  of  these  pages  will  allow.  The  names  of 
Christian  and  Matthew  Stach,  John  Beck,  Christian 
David,  and  Frederic  Boehnish  are  among  the  "  honour- 
ables,"  and  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  They  laid  the 
foundations  of  that  extensive  work  among  the  inhabit- 
ants of  these  Polar  regions,  which  the  Brethren  have 
continued  to  prosecute  ever  since.  What  the  Metho- 
dists have  been  in  Fiji,  so  the  Moravians  have  been 
to  Greenland  and  the  neighbouring  countries. 

Perhaps  now-a-days  we  are  apt  to  overlook  our 
obligations  to  that  devout,  inoffensive,  and  yet 
spiritually  aggressive  people,  from  whom  indirectly 
sprang  some  of  the  famous  revivals  of  our  time. 
Stimulated  by  persecution,  and  cleansed  by  suffering, 
they  have  passed  on  the  fiery  Cross  of  unswerving 
loyalty  to  Christ  and  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture. 

I  cannot  sufficiently  acknowledge  the  courtesy  with 
which  the  archives  of  the  Moravian  Society  have 
been  placed  at  my  disposal  in  preparing  this  work. 

Now,  gentle  reader,  I  put  my  little  book  into  your 
hand,  trusting  that  God  may  graciously  use  it  to  your 
profit  and  His  everlasting  praise. 


EOEUE  PREACHING  ON   A  FIORD. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  FROZEN  FIELD  AND  ITS  HISTORY, 


PAGE 
II 


CHAPTER   II. 

A  CRY  FROM  MACEDON,      . 


24 


-^    ■     ^    .  ■  J- 


CHAPTER   III. 
DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  DELIVERANCE, 


36 


IX 


- 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


ALMOST  ABANDONED, 


•  • 


CHAPTER   V. 

SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW,   . 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  MORAVIANS  COME,       . 


•  • 


CHAI'TER  VII. 
PESTILENCE  AND  PATIENCE,       . 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
HOW  THE  GREENLANDERS  LIVE, 


•  • 


CHAPTER   IX. 
THEIR  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS, 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  STORY  OF  KAJARNAK,  .... 


I'AOK 
50 


62 


75 


88 


I08 


121 


'J5 


CHAPTER  XI. 

god's  work  GOES  ON, 1 50 


-T 


ISO 


62 


1 75 


88 


AMID   GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE   FROZEN   FIELD  AND   ITS   HISTORY. 

Land  of  the  wintry  wind  and  cold  1 
Icelocked  is  thy  breast,  the  bravest  and  best 
Shrouded  in  snow  lie  silent  at  rest, 
Their  sufferings  and  struggles  untold. 

IN  the  fascinating  story  of  discovery  and  adventure 
two  portions  of  the  globe  have  had  a  special 
interest,  one,  the  Dark  Continent  of  the  African 
Equator,  the  other,  the  equally  gloomy  regions 
of  the  Arctic  circle.  In  the  case  of  the  former, 
modern  explorers  have  rapidly  filled  up  what  used  to 
be  great  spaces  on  our  maps,  and  where  civilisation 
has  not  yet  planted  her  towns  and  communities,  the 
footfall  of  the  traveller  has  been  heard  in  its  lonely 
solitudes,  and  the  secret  places  have  been  traversed 

from   shore  to  shore.      The   mystery  of   Africa   is 

II 


13 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


It!  J 


shrinking  year  by  year,  and  the  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  the  flags  of  the  European  nations  shall  wave 
over  every  province  of  the  land. 

Not  so,  however,  with  the  shadowy  regions  of  ice 
which  girdle  the  North  Pole.  Progress  thither  has 
been  slow  and  difficult.  Yet  its  explorers  have  been 
ever  most  persevering  and  brave.  If  Africa  can 
boast  of  her  Livingstone  and  Stanley,  the  Arctic  has 
her  Frobisher  and  her  Franklin,  to  mention  none 
other  of  the  undaunted  pioneers  who  penetrated  her 
frosty  solitudes  only  to  be  clasped  in  her  icy  arms, 
never  to  return.  In  tragic  disappointment  it  surpasses 
in  its  history  all  other  fields  of  discovery.  Again  and 
again  have  vessels,  freighted  with  adventurous  hearts, 
sailed  forth  for  the  north,  and  as  the  months  and 
years  passed  by  empty-handed,  the  weary  eyes  at 
home  have  watched  in  vain  for  their  returning  sail, 
and  have  wept  for  those  who  far  away  have  found  a 
grave  of  snow.  It  is  this  fatal  uncertainty  which 
enshrouds  the  polar  regions  with  mystery.  And  yet 
some  of  the  bravest  have  constantly  turned  their  faces 
thither,  and  striven  in  their  turn  to  penetrate  the  veil, 
only  to  meet  with  disappointment  and  to  return,  bear- 
ing back  a  few  precious  relics  of  the  dead.  Then  they 
tell  their  tale,  and  by  the  firesides  at  home  the 
recital  of  their  escapes  and  trials  stirs  the  hearts  of 
the  listeners.  What  a  wonderful  world  have  they 
seen  1  There  the  sun  glows  like  a  fiery  ball  in  the 
midnight  sky,  though  the  light  be  dim,  across  the 
plains  where  there  is  never  a  tree  or  flower  or  blade  of 
grass,  where  huge  mountains  of  glistening  ice  slowly 
float  in  fantastic  procession  against  the  deep  blue 
firmament,  where  no  sound  is  heard  save  the  shriek 


of 
be 
de 
of 
an 


THE  FROZEN   FIELD  AND  ITS   HISTORY. 


13 


of  clouds  of  wildfowl  or  the  hoarse  roar  of  the  white 
bear  as  it  splashes  across  the  ice  to  its  lair.  A  land  of 
desolate  gloom,  save  that  above  its  vast  moving  fields 
of  white,  like  the  spirits  of  the  old  Vikings  above  their 
ancient  graves,  the  mighty  sky  is  resplendent  with 
myriads  of  flashing  spears  of  light. 

Not  less  strange  are  the  little,  tawny  people,  clothed 
in  fur  skins  and  creeping  in  and  out  of  molehills  of 
snow,  or  skimming  the  water  in  their  light  canoes. 
Their  land  is  alive  with  pathetic  history.  They  can 
tell  how  strong  ships  have  been  nipped  and  crushed 
like  toys  between  the  ice  floes,  or  frozen  up  for  months 
under  a  thick  crust  of  snow.  Every  spot  has  some 
history  of  the  living  or  the  dead,  of  eager  and  sorrow- 
ful search,  of  men  straining  their  eyes  as  they  scan 
the  cliffs  for  some  vestige  of  a  cairn,  of  bits  of  coal 
and  buttons  picked  up  with  religious  care,  of  tear- 
stained  cheeks  at  the  sight  of  a  few  blanched  bones — 
the  dear  and  mute  mementoes  of  lost  brothers.  What 
a  thrilling  history  has  this  lone  white  land  ! 

One  of  the  earliest  discoverers  in  the  Polar  seas 
was  Frobisher,  the  gallant  admiral  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, who  left  England  on  the  15th  June,  1576,  with 
three  vessels,  one  of  which  was  lost  off"  the  coast  of 
Greenland  in  a  fog.  Another  deserted  and  returned 
home  with  the  false  news  of  the  death  of  Frobisher, 
but  his  own  ship,  the  Gabriel^  reached  the  Strait  after- 
wards to  bear  his  name,  and  there  landed  some  men. 
Several  of  these  were  captured  by  the  natives,  and  on 
a  second  visit  to  rescue  them  they  failed  to  appear, 
and  whether  they  were  really  killed  or  passed  inland 
to  live  with  the  natives  has  remained  a  mystery  to 
this  day.    The  principal  feature  of  Frobisher's  visit 


'a 


It  I 


14 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


was  the  discovery  of  gold  ore,  which  attracted  a  great 
number  of  miners  and  refiners  to  these  inhospitable 


MAP  OF  GREENLAND. 


shores  in  pursuit  of  wealth  they  never  won.    After  a 
relapse  of  three  hundred  years  the  relics  of  Frobisher's 


THE  FROZEN  FIELD  AND  ITS  HISTORY. 


15 


expedition  were  discovered  by  Captain  C.  F.  Hall, 
who  thus  narrates  the  incident  in  his  interesting  work, 
"  Life  with  the  Esquimaux."  He  is  writing  in  his 
journal  under  date  Sunday,  nth  August,  1861,  and 
with  great  difficulty  he  had  managed  to  explain  to  an 
Esquimaux  woman,  by  name  Koo-ou-le-arng,  that  he 
was  in  search  of  brick,  iron,  and  coal,  and  together 
they  set  out  for  a  certain  spot  upon  the  island  of 
Niountelik.     He  Writes  : — 

"Gaining  the  top  of  the  island  we  made  search 
there  for  relics,  but  found  none.  1  looked  especially 
for  some  signs  of  a  stone  monument  which  I  con- 
ceived Frobisher  might  in  his  day  (if  he  visited  this 
island)  have  erected,  this  being  the  highest  point  of 
the  whole  island.  But  none  whatever  could  I  find. 
Thence  we  directed  our  way  down  to  a  small  grassy 
slope,  not  far  from  the  termination  of  the  island. 
Here  we  made  careful  search,  but  without  finding 
anything  that  I  so  ardently  wished.  Thence  we 
commenced  to  make  a  circuit  of  the  island,  moving 
along  as  near  the  coast  as  the  bluff  rocks  would 
permit,  keeping  the  main  island  on  our  right — that  is 
continuing  north-west,  thence  north-east  and  west. 
At  the  north-west  end  of  the  island  we  found  abund- 
ance of  evidence  that  Inuits  (Esquimaux)  had  made 
Niountelik  a  stopping-place.  There  we  saw  the  usual 
circles  of  stones,  always  to  be  seen  where  Inuits 
have  had  their  tuples  (summer  tents).  We  saw  seal, 
walrus,  tuktoo  (reindeer),  oratuck  (duck),  and  various 
other  bones  in  abundance,  some  moss-aged,  and  some 
nearly  fresh,  of  not  more  than  two  or  three  years 
exposure.  Here  we  found  also  small  pieces  of  wood, 
some  with  the  ends  charred,  small  pieces  of  tuktoo 


i6 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


skins,  and  one  relic  of  civilisation,  a  piece  of  an  old 
calico  dress!  This  did  not  excite  us  as  a  matter 
extraordinary,  as  I  knew  that  the  whalers  now  visit 
every  year  the  inlet  at  the  north  known  as  *  Northum- 
berland Inlet'  (the  'Cumberland  Straits'  of  Davis), 
and  distribute  freely  among  the  Inuits  various  articles 
of  civilisation,  especially  cast-off  calico  dresses  that 
they  have  brought  from  the  States  or  from  England, 
which  are  highly  prized  by  the  Ihuit  women.  It  is 
rare  to  find  at  the  present  day  a  native  family  that 
does  not  possess  something  of  the  kind. 

"  We  continued  on  around  the  island,  finding  every 
few  fathoms  of  our  progress  numerous  Inuit  relics. 
At  length  we  arrived  at  a  plain  that  extended  back  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  coast.  Here  we 
recognised  on  our  right  the  point  to  which  we  first 
directed  our  steps  on  reaching  the  high  bank  after 
leaving  the  boat. 

"  I  was  several  fathoms  in  advance  of  Koo-ou-le- 
arng,  hastening  on,  being  desirous  of  making  as 
extended  a  search  as  the  brief  remaining  daylight 
would  allow,  when  lifting  up  my  eyes  from  the 
ground  near  me  I  discovered  a  considerable  distance 
ahead  an  object  of  unusual  appearance.  But  a 
second  look  satisfied  me  that  what  I  saw  were  simply 
stones  scattered  about  and  covered  with  black  moss. 
I  continued  my  course,  keeping  as  near  the  coast  as 
possible.  I  was  now  nearing  the  spot  where  I  had 
first  discovered  the  black  object.  It  again  met  my 
view,  and  my  original  thought  on  first  seeing  it 
resumed  at  once  the  ascendency  in  my  mind. 
I  hastened  to  the  spot. 

" '  Great  God !    Thou  hast  rewarded  me  in    my 


THE  FROZEN   FIELD  AND  ITS  HISTORY.  1 7 

search,'  was  the  sentiment  which  came  overwhelm- 
ingly into  my  thankful  soul,  on  casting  my  eyes  all 
around,  seeing  and  feeling  the  character  (moss-aged, 
for  some  of  the  pieces  I  saw  had  pellicles  of  black 
m().,3   on  them)  of  the  relics  before  and  under  me, 


^,m^0^^ 


;ij< 


i 


FINDING   FROBISHER   RELICS  AFTER   THREE   CENTURIES. 


I  felt  as — I  cannot  tell  what  my  feelings  were. 
What  I  saw  before  me  was  the  sea  coal  of  Frobisher's 
expedition  of  1578,  left  here  nearly  three  centuries 
ago 


I" 


l8 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


t 


Perhaps  the  most  notable  event  which  has  attracted 
public  attention  to  the  Arctic  regions,  was  the  Expedi- 
tion of,  and  subsequent  searches  for,  Sir  John  Franklin 
and  his  brave  companions.  He  sailed  from  England 
in  the  summer  of  1845,  with  the  two  ships,  Erebus 
and  Terror,  but  as  months  and  years  passed  on,  with- 
out word  or  sign  from  the  explorers,  the  desire  to  go 
in  search  of  them  became  widespread. 

All  sorts  of  wild  conjectures  were  afloat  as  to  the 
probable  existence  and  whereabouts  of  the  absent 
ones,  and  schemes,  some  fantastic  enough,  were  sug- 
gested for  their  recovery.  Strange  dreams  and 
visions,  pointing  to  certain  spots  in  the  Arctic  circle, 
filled  everybody's  mind  with  eager  curiosity ;  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  being  that  of  Parker  Snow,  who, 
in  1850,  stated  that,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  the  7th  of  January,  he  saw,  on  the  wall  of  his  room, 
a  picture  representing  a  region  of  ice  at  the  end  of 
King  William's  Land  and  the  estuary  of  Great  Fish 
River,  with  the  two  deserted  ships  embedded  in  the 
ice,  and  along  the  shore  the  lifeless  bodies  of  several 
men.  At  that  time  nothing  whatever  had  been 
heard  of  the  ill-fated  expedition,  but  when  Captain 
M'Clintock,  nine  years  afterwards,  reached  this  spot,  so 
strangely  indicated,  it  was  to  find  the  relics  of  the  ex- 
pedition. Sir  John  Franklin,  it  was  found,  died  on  the 
nth  of  June,  1847,  and  the  ships  were  abandoned  on 
the  22nd  of  April,  1848,  the  survivors,  105  in  number, 
moving  southward.  When  M'Clintock  returned  with 
the  sad  tidings  of  the  ioss  of  the  expedition,  it  was  by 
no  means  convincing  to  all  that  the  need  for  further 
search  had  been  closed.  Many  believed  that  the 
missing  men  had  gone  farther  north  and  became  like 


THE  FROZEN   FIELD  AND  ITS  HISTORY. 


19 


the  Esquimaux,  and  that  the  day  might  yet  come 
when  some,  at  anyrate,  of  the  descendants  of  the  sur- 
vivors would  be  found. 

Since  then  the  Arctic  regions  have  been  the  scene 
of  many  noble  enterprises,  and  if  this  present  work  had 
for  its  object  the  recital  of  Polar  adventures,  and  the 
heroes  who  have  there  distinguished  themselves,  much 


SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

might  be  written.  But  this  is  the  story  of  missionary 
pioneering,  and  its  interest  must  be  focussed  upon 
one  Polar  country — that  of  Greenland.  Here,  as  else- 
where, the  missionary  has  led  the  way,  and  the  Cross 
has  preceded  the  flag  of  commerce.  Brave  as  the 
Arctic  explorers  have  been,  they  have  not  exceeded,  in 
valour  and  patience,  those  who,  for  the  sake  of  Christ 


'I 


20 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


and  His  kingdom,  alone  have  suffered  and  toiled  in 
the  white  fields  of  the  far  north.  Their  names  are 
forgotten  in  history,  but  they  are  inscribed  in  heaven, 
and  the  story  of  their  deeds  would  enforce  the  great 
truth  that,  when  the  heart  of  a  man  is  filled  with  a 
Divine  purpose,  he  becomes  truly  great  in  suffering, 
as  in  doing,  and  merits  a  hero's  reward. 

What  is  the  early  history  of  Greenland?  The 
ancient  Scandinavian  records  answer  from  the  far 
past  of  the  ninth  century.  There  we  find  that  Harold 
Haarfagar  was  king  of  Norway,  and  his  son,  Eric,  the 
Redheaded,  flying  from  justice,  found  "that  one 
Gunbicern  had  discovered,  in  the  best  part  of  the 
island,  not  only  some  cliffs  where  there  were  plenty  of 
fish,  which  got  from  him  the  name  of  Gunbioern's 
Shears,  but  that  he  espied  a  Continent  further  west. 
The  fugitive  Eric  being  adjudged  to  a  three  years* 
banishment,  sought  this  land,  and  the  first  point  of  it 
he  discovered  was  Herjolfs  Ness ;  he  coasted  along 
south-west,  and  wintered  at  an  agreeable  island  near 
a  Sound,  which  he  called  Eric's  Sound.  The  next 
year  he  examined  the  mainland,  and  the  third 
year  went  to  Iceland. 

"  In  order  to  entice  people  to  go  to  his  new  country 
he  called  it  Greenland,  and  pointed  it  out  as  such  an 
excellent  place  for  pasture,  wood,  and  fish,  that  the 
next  year  he  was  followed  thither  by  twenty-five  ships 
full  of  colonists,  who  had  furnished  themselves  richly 
with  household  goods  and  cattle  of  all  sorts ;  but  only 
fourteen  of  these  ships  arrived.  In  process  of  time 
colonies  came  after,  both  out  of  Iceland  and  Norway, 
and  stocked  the  country  with  inhabitants,  by  degrees, 
both  in  the  east  and  west  ^ide,  so  that  they  have  been 


THE  FROZEN   FIELD  AND  ITS  HISTORY. 


21 


computed  to  be  a  third  part  as  numerous  as  a  Danish 
Episcopal  diocese." 

Christianity  came  first  to  Greenland  in  the  year 
999,  when  Leif,  the  son  of  Eric,  having  been  baptised 
in  Norway,  came  to  preach  to  the  Greenland  colon- 
ists, and  after  the  fashion  of  the  day,  baptised  the 
king  and  all  his  mighty  men.  The  first  bishop  was 
Arnold,  who  in  1121  was  appointed  there  by  the 
Papal  authorities  in  Rome ;  but  before  that  time,  in 
83s,  the  people  there  were  evidently  under  the  notice 
of  Rome,  for  in  that  year  Pope  Gregory  in  a  bull  he 
issued  specially  commends  the  conversion  of  the 
Greenlanders,  and  commits  them  to  the  care  of  Aus- 
garius,  the  Archbishop  of  Hamburg,  under  Lewis,  the 
Pious.  By  this  time  over  300  villages  had  sprun'^ 
up  in  the  land,  and  the  ruins  of  some  of  their 
churches  remain  to  this  day.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  these  is  that  of  Ericsfiord,  the  walls  of 
which  are  still  standing,  and  the  arched  windows  and 
doors  in  comparatively  good  condition.  One  who 
visited  it  in  1 871,  says: — "A  single  inscription  on  a 
tombstone,  carved  in  Runic  characters,  is  all  the 
record  that  remains  besides  the  crumbled  walls.  This 
inscription  reads : — 

vigdis,  daughter  of  m***,  rests  here. 
May  God  rejoice  her  soul. 


And  may  God  rejoice  in  the  souls  of  all  these 
worthies  of  the  olden  time!  I  could  not  fail  to 
experience  a  feeling  of  sadness  as  I  stood  beside  the 
tombs  of  a  people  now  utterly  extinct.  It  seemed  as 
if  voices  from  the  past  were  speaking  to  me  from 


22 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


out  the  crumbling  church,  from  the  almonry  where 
the  priest  dispensed  his  alms,  from  the  holy  water 
stoup,  from  the  tombstones  bearing  the  sacred 
emblems  of  our  Christian  faith  ^  from  everywhere, 
indeed,  there  was  a  silent  whispering  that  here  a 
Christian  people  once  dwelt  in  peace,  and  from 
temples  dedicated  to  Almighty  God  arose  their 
anthems  of  praise  above  the  glittering  crests  of 
snow." 

After  fourteen  bishops  had  in  succession  ruled  this 
prosperous  Church,  a  fearful  calamity  occurred  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  the  wild  and  lawless  hordes, 
known  as  the  Skraellings,  swept  down  upon  the 
colony  and  utterly  destroyed  it.  It  was  an  awful 
and  a  costly  struggle  for  life  ;  the  colonists  with  their 
superior  weapons  strove  in  vain,  for  not  only  did  the 
hills  swarm  with  these  savages,  but  a  huge  fleet  of 
ships  assailed  them  from  the  sea.  The  records  which 
remain  of  this  terrible  time  are  few  and  meagre.  In 
1446,  the  Pope  mentions  it  in  writing  to  the  Bishop 
of  Iceland,  and  speaks  sadly  of  "  our  beloved  child- 
ren," whose  church  has  been  so  ruthlessly  destroyed, 
and  especially  of  such  survivors  as  have  been  carried 
into  slavery. 

With  this  extinction  of  the  colony  of  Northmen 
the  veil  of  mist  seems  to  settle  over  Greenland,  and 
for  centuries  that  gloom  was  undispelled.  The  Cross 
with  its  witnesses  had  been  borne  down  in  conflict 
with  Paganism,  and  the  history  of  what  had  been 
was  read  with  tears  by  the  confessors  of  the  faith  in 
other  lands.  For  the  saints  were  not  forgotten. 
Although  from  such  slender  evidence  as  the  ancient 
historians  had  left  behind,  it  seemed  that  the  Christ- 


THE  FROZEN   FIELD  AND  ITS  HISTORY. 


23 


ian  settlements  there  had  been  blotted  out,  still  men 
hoped  against  hope  that  all  might  not  be  lost.  Per- 
haps the  onrush  of  that  savage  horde  had  exhausted 
itself  before  the  end  was  reached.  Was  it  possible 
that,  after  all,  the  Church  in  Greenland  had  not  been 
utterly  annihilated,  and  that  some  feeble  remnant 
might  yet  be  remaining  faithful?  Who  would  go 
forth  to  find  these  lost  tribes  of  Israel?  Such 
thoughts  as  these  were  destined  one  day  to  stir  the 
heart  of  a  true  and  faithful  standard-bearer  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ. 


i 


'•'  I;. 

t;     - 


«■* 


ANCIENT  CROSS  OVER  GREENLAND  GRAVE. 


VAAGEN   CHURCH    AND   EGRDE  S   PARSONAGE. 


CHAPTER   II. 


li    >i 


A  CRY  FROM  MACEDON. 

"  Just  as  I  am,  young,  strong,  and  free, 
To  be  the  best  that  I  can  be, 
For  truth  and  righteousness  and  Thee 
Lord  of  my  life,  I  come  ! " 

THE  attraction  of  hidden  treasure  has  often 
prompted  the  first  steps  in  the  untrodden 
pathways  of  discovery,  and  it  was  so  with 
Greenland.  The  great  lone  land  of  the  far 
north  was  often  in  the  thoughts  of  adventurous  spirits 
on  the  continent  of  Europe.  From  time  to  time 
belated  navigators  came  home  with  rent  cordage  and 
broken  spars  to  tell  of  a  land  which  they  had  seen 
and  believed  to  be  rich  in  mineral  wealth,  only  wait- 
ing for  strong  hands  to  win  it. 

So  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the 
Iceland  people  noticed  huge  masses  of  drift  snow  and 
24 


A   CRY   FROM   MACEDON. 


25 


ice  blown  on  to  their  shores  by  a  strong  north  wind, 
bearing,  as  on  rafts,  some  white  bears,  the  desire  to 
find  out  this  unknown  country  tempted  many  to  take 
shfp  and  steer  thither.  But  they  found  the  ice 
barrier  everywhere  blocking  the  way,  and  the  sailors 
came  back,  circulating  the  wildest  stories,  full  of 
romance,  about  the  wonderful  land  hidden  away 
behind  the  glaciers  and  hills  of  glistening  snow.  An 
old  chronicler  seriously  defends  the  rumours  afloat  of 
its  hidden  treasure. 

"  In  Greenland  forsooth,"  saith  he,  "  there  must  be 
gold  too,  because  it  stands  in  the  version  of  the  Book 
of  Job,  chapter  xxxvii.,  verse  22,  '  Gold  cometh  out 
of  the  north,'  and  because  Theophrastus  Paracelsus 
has  predicted  more  valuable  gold  mines  there  than  in 
the  East."  The  same  historian  gives  us  an  account 
of  the  fruitless  efforts  made  by  one  of  the  Danish 
expeditions. 

"In  the  year  1636  a  company  of  merchants  in 
Copenhagen  sent  two  ships  into  the  Straits  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Chancellor  Christian  Friis,  and  they 
traded  with  the  natives.  One  of  the  sailors  found  a 
shining  sand  on  the  shore  which  looked  like  gold  and 
was  very  heavy.  Then  they  thought  they  had  found 
an  Ophir  or  a  Peru,  and  loaded  both  ships  full.  But 
when  it  came  to  be  assayed  at  Copenhagen  it  was 
nothing  but  sand,  and  the  Chancellor  threw  the  whole 
lading  into  the  sea.  Yet  when  a  foreign  artist 
extracted  genuine  gold  out  of  a  sand  found  in 
Norway  just  like  this,  they  repented  of  this  precipitate 
affair ;  but  meanwhile  the  captain,  dying  of  vexation, 
they  could  not  find  the  place  again.  These  also 
seized  two  Greenlanders  and  took  them  with  them ; 


111 


,it 


26 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


when  they  came  out  into  the  middle  of  the  ocean 
they  let  them  come  upon  deck,  and  the  poor 
creatures  sprang  into  the  sea  out  of  love  for  their 
country  and  were  probably  drowned." 

Other  voyages  were  equally  unsuccessful,  and  at 
last  the  fever  of  enterprise  died  down,  and  Greenland, 
with  its  reputed  gold  mines  as  well  as  its  more 
authentic  Church  history,  sank  into  oblivion.  For 
nearly  half-a-century  the  silence  and  the  mystery  of 
the  dark  continent  of  the  North  continued  unbroken. 
But  what  the  greed  of  gold  cannot  accomplish, 
the  love  of  God  can  do,  and  in  this  its  moment  of 
darkest  desolation,  daybreak  was  to  arise  on  Green- 
land. 

It  is  the  old,  old  story  of  the  beginning  of  all  great 
works.  The  Divine  call  came  to  one  hidden, 
insignificant,  and  obscure  as  regards  this  world,  but 
in  the  decree  of  Heaven  the  chosen  servant  for  a 
special  mission  from  God  to  man.  And  in  this  wise 
came  the  call  from  Macedonia. 

Among  the  little  group  of  islands  which  lie  off  the 
Norwegian  coast  lived  a  young  man  in  the  early 
days  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He  was  new  to  the 
place  and  the  people,  having  only  recently  left  his 
college  door  at  Copenhagen  to  take  the  pastoral  care 
of  the  simple  fisher  folk.  The  steeple  of  his  little 
church  was  seen  over  the  cottages  of  Vaagen,  and 
from  its  pulpit  and  amid  its  streets  the  faithful  parson 

"  Allured  to  brighter  worlds 
And  led  the  way." 

In  his  work  he  had  a  faithful  helpmate,  who,  with 
him,  passed  from  door  to  door  tending  the  sick,  warn- 


A  CRY  FROM  MACEDOr^ 


n 


ing  the  unruly,  and  in  simple,  humble  ways  glorifying 
God.  Sometimes  the  young  pastor  would  go  out 
with  the  fishermen  in  their  boats  ;  the  friend  of  all,  he 
was  trusted  and  loved.  Such  was  Hans  Egede  in  the 
year  1708,  and  to  all  appearances  he  was  destined  to 
remain  among  his  people  through  the  long  years 
until  his  hair  should  be  whitened  with  age.  But  He 
in  whose  service  he  was  had  other  work  for  the  young 
pastor,  and  was  about  to  lead  him  forth  to  a  distant 
land.  He  remembered  having,  in  his  college  days, 
read  some  old  books,  to  which  he  now  gave  a  closer 
attention.  These  were  the  stirring  records  of  the  fate 
of  those  Christian  settlements  in  Greenland  referred 
to  in  the  previous  chapter.  He  had  found  them  in 
his  library,  and  he  could  not  get  away  from  the 
attraction  of  their  pages.  For  hours  he  nourished  the 
deep  yearnings  of  his  breast  by  reading  the  history  of 
that  early  Church  which  had  once  existed  beyond 
those  heights  of  snow,  and  which  had  been  for  so 
many  long  years  lost  in  obscurity.  The  years  had 
passed  without  a  sign  from  over  the  sea,  and  as  Hans 
Egede  stood  upon  the  hill  behind  his  church  and 
looked  across  the  ocean,  strange  longings  seized  him. 
"Was  it  possible,"  he  kept  asking  himself,  "that 
yonder  some  feeble  remnant  of  Christians  still 
remained  who  cherished  the  faith  and  memory  of  their 
forefathers,  and  waited,  all  in  vain,  for  succour  from 
Europe  ?  "  Who  shall  go,  then,  to  these  shepherdless 
ones  ?  The  question  burned  in  his  heart.  His  fisher- 
folk  began  to  notice  the  pallor  of  his  thought-worn 
face,  as,  with  abstracted  gaze,  he  walked  along  the 
shore ;  and  they  wondered  mightily  what  perplexed 
their  pastor's  mind.     They  never  guessed  the  conflict 


fl 


J 


i  ■ 


■fi 


i,i  II 


28 


AMID   GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


that  was  raging  in  his  bosom;  how  a  voice  was  ringing 
in  his  ears  calling  him  away,  and  how,  looking  into  the 
faces  of  his  simple  people,  he  shrank  from  leaving  thi-m. 
He  had  every  reason  to  stay.  The  comforts  of  his 
quiet,  little  home;  the  little  children  growing  like  olive 
branches  around  his  table,  and  the  devotion  of  his 
flock,  all  bade  him  stay.  But  above  all  these  con- 
siderations rose  ever  the  recurring  cry,  "Greenland 
calls  you ;  will  you  not  come  over  and  help  us  ? " 
Occasionally  he  heard  news,  bare  and  meagre  bits  of 
intelligence,  about  the  distant  land  from  fishermen 
and  traders  who  put  into  the  little  port,  and  these 
tidings  whetted  his  desire  to  go.  And  yet  Egede 
was  a  most  modest  and  retiring  man,  and  it  was  quite 
natural  that  he  should  constantly  ask  himself  whether, 
after  all,  he  was  good  enough  for  so  great  and  noble 
an  enterprise  ?  He  thought,  at  any  rate,  his  first  duty 
was  to  draw  up  some  sort  of  memorial  of  the  need  of 
action,  in  the  hope  that  it  might  come  into  the  hands 
of  some  one  worthy  to  carry  it  to  a  successful  issue. 
So,  in  1 710,  he  prepared  his  appeal  to  the  Christian 
Church  on  behalf  of  the  Greenlanders,  and  despatched 
it  to  Randolph,  Bishop  of  Bergen,  the  port  from  which 
most  of  the  fishing  trade  with  Greenland  was  carried 
on.  Another  copy  he  sent  to  his  own  bishop,  Krog 
of  Drontheim,  and  waited  anxiously  the  result.  A 
year  seems  to  have  passed  away,  a  long  strain  of 
patience  for  poor  Egede!  And  when,  in  171 1,  the 
episcopal  message  did  arrive,  it  commended  his  zeal 
and  promised  to  bear  his  poor  clients  in  mind.  But 
for  the  present  no  such  enterprise  could  be  thought 
of.  The  war  with  Sweden  filled  the  public  mind  and 
drained  the  national  coffers;   and   then   again   the 


I     V  I  *] 


UEKGEN. 


29 


I. . 

' :  1.' 


'  if 


^^1 


A  CRY  FROM  MACEDON. 


31 


il 


ii'  ',' 


terrible  sufferings  which  others  had  undergone  in  times 
past  would  deter  their  countrymen  from  exposing 
themselves  to  new  dangers.  But  the  bishop  was 
quite  alive  to  the  remarkable  results  which  would 
flow  from  such  a  venture  if  it  proved  successful.  In 
the  end  both  bishops  promised  to  bring  the  subject 
under  the  notice  of  the  king  of  Denmark. 

When  it  got  abroad  in  the  little  village  that  Hans 
Egede  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  Greenlanders 
and  might  himself  sally  forth  to  find  them,  there 
arose  a  turbulent  opposition  among  his  parishioners 
and  friends.  They  assailed  him  with  remonstrances, 
and  finding  these  of  no  avail,  declared  their  pastor 
was  mad  and  held  aloof  from  him.  His  position  was 
like  that  of  Christian  when  he  prepared  to  flee  from 
the  City  of  Destruction.  Wherever  he  went  in  the 
old,  familiar  streets  he  met  glances  of  anger  or  pity, 
and  the  whole  place  had  evidently  resolved  to  let 
their  hair-brained  parson  severely  alone.  This  was 
not  the  worst  he  had  to  bear.  He  had  taken  his 
wife  at  once  into  his  confidence  and  to  her  conster- 
nation had  announced  his  intention  to  go  away  as 
a  missionary.  She  resolutely  opposed  the  idea, 
pleaded  his  love  for  her,  and  pointed  to  the  children 
whose  lives  would  be  full  of  hardship  and  suflering  if 
he  persevered  in  his  intention.  Her  mother,  who 
seems  to  have  shared  their  home,  added  her  voice 
to  the  general  outcry,  till  poor  Egede,  well-nigh  torn 
with  contending  claims,  was  almost  beside  himself. 
He  lifted  up  his  heart  to  God  and  heard  the  words, 
"  He  that  loveth  father  and  mother  or  wife  or  child 
more  than  Me  is  not  worthy  of  Me." 

At  last  the  elders  of  his  church  came  in   solemn 


|.««.t 


33 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


order  as  a  deputation  to  the  parsonage  and  por- 
trayed in  moving  terms  what  grief  and  dismay  their 
pastor's  new  ideas  were  entailing  upon  the  people. 
Egede  reasoned  with  them  as  best  he  could,  and 
pointed  out  how  much  he  felt  the  urgency  of  the  call 
of  God  to  give  himself  to  Greenland.  The  conference 
ended,  an  old  whiteheaded  man  stepped  up  and 
laying  his  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  Egede,  said, 
"  Wait  and  see  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is.  If  it  is 
His  will  for  you  to  go,  He  will  give  you  a  sign  that 
none  of  us  shall  be  able  to  gainsay." 

So  he  resolved  to  wait. 

But  the  sign  came  in  due  time  and  in  a  way  and 
from  a  quarter  least  expected.  Sometimes  when  wc 
are  looking  into  the  sky  for  a  Divine  indication  we  find 
the  providential  guidance  much  nearer  the  ground. 
The  excitement  which  his  proposal  had  caused  quite 
unsettled  the  church,  and  he  began  to  see  that  the 
hold  he  had  formerly  on  his  people  had  gone.  The 
old,  sweet  harmony  and  confidence  had  melted  away, 
and  in  place  of  it  a  bitter  feeling  and  the  cackle  of 
slanderous  tongues  were  making  his  life  miserable. 
The  trouble  reached  the  manse,  and  his  wife,  who  h;M 
striven  so  earnestly  to  persuade  him  to  stay,  now 
found  herself  the  object  of  petty  persecutions  and 
unfeeling  treatment. 

"I  shall    never    find    happiness  in   Vaagen    any 


more. 


Then  he  appealed  to  her  again  in  this  crisis.  Did 
not  this  seem  like  a  shaking  of  the  nest  ?  Was  it  not 
an  indication  that  their  work  at  Vaagen  was  done, 
and  that  their  eyes  must  look  beyond  the  sea  for  a 
fresh  sphere.     "Give   thyself  to   prayer,"  was  his 


A  CRY   FROM   MACEDON. 


13 


'■  u 


counsel  as  he  left  the  matter  for  her  consideration. 
She  did  so  and  in  answer  to  htr  prayer  God  gave 
her  a  clear  revelation  of  His  mind.  She  returned  to 
her  husband  and  fell  on  his  neck  with  tears,  bewailing 
her  former  unwillingness  to  go  with  him.  It  was, 
however,  all  so  clear  to  her  now,  and  the  way  of 
duty  was  very  plain.  She  would  go  with  him, 
willingly  sharing  his  labours ;  and  if  suffering  were 
before  them,  then  they  would  endure  it  together. 
He  had  told  her  of  Christ's  warning  about  cherishing 
domestic  and  human  ties  of  relationship  before  Him, 
and  she  responded  with  the  words  of  Naomi,  "  Where 
thou  goest  I  will  go,  and  where  thou  dwellest 
I  will  dwell,  and  there  will  I  be  buried.  Thy  people 
shall  be  my  people  and  thy  God  my  God." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  joy  which  filled 
the  heart  of  Hans  Egede  when  he  heard  these  words, 
and  feeling  now  that  all  hindrances  were  removed,  he 
set  his  face  resolutely  to  begin  what  he  felt  to  be  the 
real  work  and  mission  of  his  life.  Again  he  appealed 
to  the  bishops  and  begged  their  help,  but  alas!  in 
vain.  They  again  postponed  the  matter,  urging  the 
disturbed  state  of  public  affairs,  and  this  awoke  afresh 
the  enmity  and  opposition  of  his  friends.  There  was 
no  help  for  it,  he  and  his  wife  must  continue  a  little 
longer  in  Vaagen,  but  the  persecution  which  he  had  to 
endure  became  still  worse.  In  the  bitterness  of  this 
condition  of  things,  Egede  once  more  rushed  into 
print,  and  in  171 5  his  pamphlet  was  sent  out,  "A 
Scriptural  and  rational  solution  and  explanation  with 
respect  to  the  objections  and  impediments  raised 
against    the    design    of   converting  the   heathenish 

Greenlander."    This  did  little,  however,  to  change  the 

C 


■pil 


'I 

;  r1 


>N 


■I  ■'■ 


a 


34 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


current  setting  directly  against  him.  Says  the  old 
chronicler,  already  quoted :  "  But  still  the  world 
strove  to  divert  him  from  it,  not  only  by  urging  the 
miseries  of  that  raw  and  frigid  climate,  the  dangers 
of  his  voyages  and  of  his  abode  there,  the  frenzy  of 
relinquishing  a  certain  for  an  uncertain  livelihood,  and 
even  of  bringing  his  wife  and  children  into  manifest 
perils  in  an  unjustifiable  manner;  but  what  was  worse, 
they  defamed  him  with  having  carnal  motives,  as  if  he 
sought  himself  under  the  specious  pretext  of  spread- 
ing the  honour  of  God,  and  that  he  properly  wanted 
to  aggrandise  his  own  name  (or  contradictory  as  this 
was)  aimed  at  advancing  his  condition  in  temporals, 
because  his  benefice  was  not  so  good  as  he 
wished." 

Resigning  his  pastoral  office  to  his  bishop,  he  asked 
that  his  successor  would  allow  him  a  small  pension 
until  he  left  for  Greenland,  but  this  none  would  do. 
So  in  171 8  he  left  Vaagen  to  see  its  shore  no 
more. 

Just  as  he  was  starting,  news  came  of  a  fearful 
disaster  off  the  Greenland  coast — a  Bergen  vessel 
had  been  shipwrecked  there,  and  the  crew  finding 
a  refuge  on  the  shore  were  murdered  and  after- 
wards eaten  by  the  natives.  Egede  bade  his  friends 
farewell,  and  for  a  brief  space  their  old  love  for 
him  revived,  and  they  came  in  crowds  to  see  the  ship 
sail  and  bid  him  "God  speed."  So  affected  was 
Egede  by  this  manifestation  of  sympathy,  that  his 
resolution  almost  failed  him  ;  he  began  to  feel  how 
much  he  loved  his  people.  His  wife,  however,  brave 
and  staunch,  had  no  divided  mind,  and,  standing  by 
his  side,  she  begged  him  to  be  steadfast  and  play  the 


A  CRY  FROM   MACEDON. 


35 


man.  So  waving  their  handkerchiefs  as  the  shore 
slowly  receded  behind  the  wake  of  the  ship,  Hans 
Egede,  with  his  wife  and  four  young  children,  sailed 
away  for  Bergen,  which  was  for  the  present  to  be  their 
future  home. 

"  The  sweetest  lives  arc  those  to  duty  wed, 

V/hose  deeds,  both  great  and  small. 
Are  close-knit  strands  of  one  unbroken  thread. 

Where  love  ennobles  all. 
The  world  may  sound  no  trumpets,  ring  no  bells. 
The  Book  of  Life  the  shining  record  tells  " 


a; 


m 


CHAPTER  III. 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND   DELIVERAtlCE. 

Brothers  !  we  have  a  work,  our  hearts  are  young, 
We  watch  the  shadows  on  the  wall  of  time, 

We  hear  the  thundering  of  the  iron  tongue, 
This  day's  dark  dawn  shall  grow  to  light  sublime. 

TO  characters  well-trained,  persecution  in  the  path 
of  duty  means  increase  of  faith.  Impediments 
are  the  stepping-stones  to  higher  and  better 

things.  So  it  proved  with  Hans  Egede,  as  he 
took  up  his  abode  in  Bergen.  He  had  escaped  the 
persecution  of  his  village  pastorate  only  to  meet  in 
this  town  a  more  vexatious  opposition.  If  he 
had  imagined  that  the  better-educated  classes  would 
appreciate  his  zealous  aim,  he  was  now  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment. In  this  respect  history  in  every  century 
is  repeating  itself  continually,  and  Egede,  like  so  many 
of  the  saints  before  him  and  since,  was  received  as  a 
hair-brained  enthusiast,  whom  religious  ideas  had  sent 
mad.  Had  he  shown  the  same  earnestness  in  the 
pursuit  of  commerce,  he  would  have  been  commended 
for  his  business  capacity  ;  or  in  scientific  investigations 
he  might  have  gained  a  name  to  make  the  colleges 

36 


to 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  DFXIVERANCE. 


37 


ring.  But  his  absorbing  aim  was  for  the  salvation 
of  men,  and  when  he  looked  to  the  Christians  for 
sympathy  and  help,  he  got  well  laughed  at  for  his 
pains.  They  would  have  none  of  him  and  his  mission- 
ary  ideas.      So  in   loneliness    and    heart-hunger   he 


MRS.    EGEDE  (GERTRUDE   RAST). 

walked  the  streets  of  Bergen,  only  kept  up  by  the 
strong  consolation  and  the  presence  and  approval  of 
his  God.  He  had  knocked  at  the  Church  door  in 
vain,  and  the  gritless  professors  in  their  cushioned 
comfort  waived  the  disturber  away.  Then  he  turned 
to  secular  sources  and  laid  his  plans  before  the  trad- 


IHH 


38 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


ing  community.  Pointing  out  to  them  the  business 
advantages  which  might  accrue  if  the  new  opening 
proved  a  success,  he  soon  got  a  hearing.  We  can 
picture  him  buttonholing  the  merchants  in  the  market- 
place, or  talking  with  the  captains  on  the  quay.  He 
was  going  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  it  was  for  souls 
not  silver  that  he  was  ready  to  spend  his  strength. 
But  they  might  accompany  him,  and  if  they  would 
give  him  free  passage  to  Greenland,  he  would  do  his 
best  to  find  them  a  colony  and  a  trade.  As  he  talked, 
possibly  old  faded  traditions  of  Greenland  gold  came 
up  before  the  minds  of  the  listeners.  Sometimes  they 
seemed  disposed  to  hearken  and  act,  but  in  the  end 
their  confidence  failed  them,  and  poor  Egede  had  to 
walk  home  disappointed  and  sad.  The  trade  which 
already  existed  between  Bergen  and  Greenland  had 
fallen  off  considerably,  and  the  wars  and  national  con- 
troversies and  jealousies  did  not  seem  likely  to 
encourage  its  revival.  Dark  and  cloudy  was  his  sky, 
but  he  held  on  to  God  to  see  him  yet  through.  His 
faith  grew  stronger  as  the  prospect  became  more 
depressing. 

For  a  moment  light  broke  suddenly  through  the 
shadows.  The  battle  of  Fredericksbald  had  resulted 
in  the  defeat  of  Charles  XH.  of  Sweden,  and  there 
seemed  a  prospect  of  peace  being  proclaimed.  With 
this  hope  Egede  hurried  to  Copenhagen,  where  was 
the  College  of  Missions,  representing  so  much  of  the 
zeal  and  influence  of  the  Christianity  of  the  kingdom. 
He  laid  his  plans  before  them,  and  with  a  trembling 
heart  told  the  story  of  his  call  to  work,  and  the  pros- 
pects of  its  accomplishment.  The  authorities  not 
only  listened  attentively,  but  showed  themselves  in 


favour 
assista 
intervi< 
ing  m< 
sympal 
gaining 
discuss 
young 

Egec 
to  God 
His  wil 
all  thrc 

The 
a  royal 
magisti 
informj 
who  p<| 
what  b 
Straits, 
coast  c 
They  m 
fit  out 
In  obe 
captair 
Egede' 
of  the 
well  ki 
enterpi 
made 
cillors, 
listenei 
a  tradi 
set  the 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  DELIVKRANCK. 


39 


favour  of  the  scheme,  and  promised  Egcdc  their 
assistance.  The  next  step  was  to  get  a  personal 
interview  with  the  king,  for  Frederick  IV.,  the  reign- 
ing monarch  of  Denmark,  was  well  known  for  his 
sympathy  with  evangelical  enterprise.  Successful  in 
gaining  the  royal  ear,  he  found  the  king  ready  to 
discuss  the  matter,  and  in  the  end  he  promised  the 
young  apostle  his  favour  and  support. 

Egede  sped  home  with  a  light  heart,  singing  praises 
to  God,  who  had  so  marvellously  opened  up  his  way. 
His  wife  rejoiced  with  him,  for  she  had  been  steadfast 
all  through. 

The  king  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  very  shortly 
a  royal  mandate  reached  Bergen,  addressed  to  the 
magistrates,  requiring  that  they  should  gather  all  the 
information  they  could  from  the  trading  community 
who  possessed  any  knowledge  of  the  far  seas  as  to 
what  business  had  hitherto  been  done  beyond  Davis' 
Straits,  and  whether  if  a  colony  were  established  on  the 
coast  of  Greenland  it  would  be  likely  to  succeed. 
They  were  also  to  consider  what  would  be  required  to 
fit  out  such  an  expedition  if  it  were  thought  advisable. 
In  obedience  to  this  order,  a  grand  council  of  the 
captains,  pilots,  and  merchants  was  held,  but  to 
Egede's  disappointment  they  decided  that  the  perils 
of  the  climate  and  the  cruelty  of  the  natives  were  so 
well  known,  that  it  was  useless  to  undertake  such  an 
enterprise.  Egede,  not  to  be  daunted  by  this  reverse, 
made  his  way  to  the  houses  of  some  of  these  coun- 
cillors, and  begged  of  them  to  give  it  a  trial.  They 
listened  to  his  appeal,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  form 
a  trading  company,  but  the  man  whose  means  were  to 
set  the  thing  afloat  withdrew  at  the  last  moment,  and 


at 


m 


40 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


the  scheme  fell  to  the  ground.  The  shadows  began 
to  thicken  down  again,  and  his  friends,  with  the 
croaking  alacrity  so  often  developed  in  such  cases, 
told  Egede  that  he  had  better  give  it  up.  It  did 
certainly  seem  that  humanly  speaking  the  cause  had 
no  prospect.  The  royal  favour,  upon  which  so  much 
had  been  counted,  had  failed  ;  the  merchants  openly 
distrusted  the  proposal  and  refused  their  help,  and  the 
Church  was  worse  than  apathetic.  But  one  man  in  the 
world  believed  in  its  success,  and  that  man  walked 
about  Bergen  with  a  mind  made  up  to  continue  even 
more  strenuously  to  urge  his  cause.  He  felt,  some- 
how or  other,  from  somewhere  or  other,  that  God 
would  yet  make  an  open  door  for  him.  From  hor.se 
to  house  he  went.  The  scene  is  vividly  described 
by  Dr.  Robert  Brown  : — 

"  Altogether  it  is  a  singular  and  heroic  spectacle,  of 
which  that  busy  Norway  port  was  for  the  most  part 
unconscious.  There  are  not  many  narratives  in 
missions  so  touching  as  the  story  of  those  four  years, 
through  which  we  see  the  figure  of  young  Egede 
haunting  the  streets  and  quays,  till  everybody  gets  to 
know  and  wonder  at  him ;  till  the  merchants  shun 
him  as  a  bore,  and  the  sailors  marvel  with  a  kind  of 
reverence  as  they  see  him  gazing  wistfully  after  the 
departing  ships,  and  at  the  corners  men  whisper  that 
he  has  seen  strange  visions  of  the  Lord,  and  tell  how 
he  left  his  parish  and  gave  up  everything  to  get  to 
Greenland ;  and  how  they  have  watched  him  go  down 
to  the  forge  with  his  little  son,  and  take  the  hammer 
and  blow  the  bellows  with  the  smith,  *  for  they  say  a 
man  must  learn  to  do  for  himself  in  those  countries  1 ' " 

At  last  the  patient  waiting  of  those  years  was 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND   DELIVERANCE. 


41 


rewarded.  Some  good  men,  whose  commercial  zeal 
was  happily  supplemented  by  a  desire  to  glorify  God, 
agreed  to  put  down  £40  each,  if  Egede  himself  would 
add  £60  to  make  a  start  with  this  Greenland  business. 
Another  appeal  to  the  bishop  and  clergy  was  made, 
and  the  case  of  the  distant  field  of  work  put  very 
strongly  before  them.  The  result  was  that  enough 
money  was  raised  to  purchase  a  ship,  which  was 
christened  Tke  Hope,  and  might  indeed  have  been 
called  as  appropriately  Tke  Patience  Rewarded.  It 
was  necessary,  however,  to  engage  two  other  vessels, 
to  carry  a  freight  of  goods  for  barter  and  a  quantity 
of  fishing  tackle  for  the  use  of  the  colonists  in  their 
new  inheritance.  Thus  fully  equipped,  the  little 
flotilla  spread  sail  on  the  3rd  May,  1721,  the  fruit  of 
thirteen  years  of  work  and  waiting,  patience  and 
prayer. 

The  starting  of  the  voyagers  was  an  event  of  stirring 
importance  to  the  inhabitants  of  Bergen.  People  had 
grown  so  accustomed  to  seeing  Egede  about  the 
streets,  that  when  it  became  known  that  he  had  really 
succeeded  and  was  about  to  start,  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  of  the  little  Norwegian  port  was  desirous  of 
bidding  him  farewell.  They  gathered  in  crowds  upon 
the  quay,  and  boats  filled  with  friends  with  waving 
hands  clustered  round  the  ship.  But  the  multitude 
had  many  minds  about  the  wisdom  of  his  enterprise. 
It  is  again  the  old  story  of  the  prophet  and  the 
people.  Some  grasped  his  hand  and  freely  and 
sincerely  wished  him  God-speed,  but  others  pitied 
him  for  his  misguided  enthusiasm,  blamed  him  for  his 
reckless  venturesomeness,  lamented  the  wasteful  cost 
of  the  undertaking,  or,  looking  upon  his  wife  and 


''3 


42 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


children  as  they  stood  on  the  deck,  wept  to  think 
what  these  must  suffer.  But  Egede — all  unconscious, 
or  at  any  rate  regardless  of  these  varied  views  of  his 
conduct — saw  Bergen  fade  in  the  distance  behind 
him,  and  then  turned  with  a  full  heart  to  the  wide 
waste  of  waters  which  lay  in  front  of  the  ship. 
Yonder,  beyond  that  horizon  of  sea,  was  his  future, 
the  goal  of  his  sacred  ambition  and  the  answer  to  his 
many  prayers.  Misgivings  of  failure  never  clouded 
his  mind  ;  he  had  passed  through  so  much  and  borne 
so  long  a  succession  of  disappointments,  that  he  felt 
the  release  from  land  was  like  the  snapping  of  a 
string,  and  that  at  any  rate  he  was  now  free  and 
pressing  onward  to  his  work. 

After  tossing  upon  the  waves  for  nearly  a  month, 
the  voyagers  at  last  caught  sight  of  land,  and  found 
themselves  in  immediate  danger  from  the  huge  hills 
of  ice  which  were  drifting  swiftly  through  the  dark 
sea.  A  creek  appeared  which  seemed  a  safe  haven, 
but  just  at  that  point  a  fearful  storm  came  up,  tossing 
their  ships  about  like  shuttle-cocks,  and  so  injuring 
one  of  them  that  she  sprung  a  leak,  and  was  only 
saved  from  foundering  by  her  crew  stripping  them- 
selves and  thrusting  their  garments  into  the  rent 
which  the  ice  had  made  in  her  side.  Then  to  com- 
plete their  discomfiture  there  fell  one  of  the  blinding 
Arctic  snowstorms,  in  which  they  lost  all  reckoniiig. 
The  captain  gave  up  all  hope,  and  told  his  passengers 
to  prepare  for  eternity,  for  they  had  not  long  to  live. 

Egede,  like  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  when  in 
similar  straits,  felt  assured  that  God,  who  had  called 
him  to  do  a  work  in  Greenland,  would  preserve  him 
to  do  it,  and  began  straightway  to  strengthen  the 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  DELIVERANCE. 


43 


hearts  of  his  fellow -passengers.  It  was  an  awful 
moment  as  they  all  knelt  on  the  heaving  deck,  and 
Egede  spread  forth  his  hands  to  Heaven  for  help  in 
their  extremity.  The  snow  had  ceased  falling  and  a 
thick  fog  enveloped  them,  so  that  they  heard  but 
could  not  see  the  crashing  tumult  of  the  icebergs 
close  by.  All  at  once  the  mist  lifted,  and  to  their  joy 
they  saw  the  masses  of  ice  drifting  away  in  the 
distance,  leaving  the  ships  in  comparatively  smooth 
waters.  A  psalm  of  praise  rose  to  the  lips  of  those 
pious  men — 

"  They  cry  unto  the  Lord  in  their  trouble, 
And  He  bringeth  them  out  of  their  distresses. 
He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm, 
So  that  the  waves  thereof  are  still. 
Then  are  they  glad  because  they  be  quiet ; 
So  He  bringeth  them  unto  their  desired  haven. 
Oh,  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  for  His  goodness. 
And  for  His  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of  men  ! " 

So  as  the  morning  dawned  of  the  3rd  July,  1721, 
just  two  months  from  the  time  of  the  embarkation  at 
Bergen,  they  made  a  landing  at  Balls  River,  on  the 
west  coast  of  Greenland.  They  began  at  once  to  build 
some  rough  temporary  houses  to  shelter  them  on  an 
island  called  Kangek,  and  this  place  they  called  after 
the  name  of  the  ship,  and  in  the  spirit  of  their 
mission,  Haabets-Oe — i.e.y  Hope  Island.  In  their 
first  hut  of  earth  and  boards  these  pilgrims  of  the 
faith  gathered  on  the  night  of  the  31st  of  August  for 
a  thanksgiving  service,  Egede  standing  in  the  midst 
of  them,  Bible  in  hand,  and  reading  as  his  text  the 
words :  "  O  praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  nations :  praise 
Him,  all  ye  people.     For  His  merciful  kindness  is 


i   '-^ 


I    - 


ii 


44 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


great  toward  us  :  and  the  truth  of  the  Lord  endureth 
for  ever.     Praise  ye  the  Lord." 

The  thoughts  of  their  perilous  voyage  and  their 
present  safety  filled  the  hearts  of  these  simple  people 
with  gratitude ;  and  after  they  had  sung  a  hymn, 
Egede  commended  them  and  their  work  to  the  care 
of  Almighty  God. 

How  much  he  would  need  Divine  comfort  and 
guidance  events  were  soon  to  prove.  One  of  their 
ships  had  parted  from  them  in  the  stress  of  the  storm, 
and  though  not  eventually  lost,  she  was  cast,  dis- 
masted and  helpless,  on  the  coast  of  Norway,  and 
those  on  board  escaped  without  loss  of  life.  But  as 
they  slowly  found  their  way  back  again  to  Bergen, 
they  told  to  excited  listeners  the  tale  of  their  suffer- 
ings, and,  of  course,  those  who  had  been  discreetly 
dolorous  over  the  thing  in  the  first  instance,  now 
nodded  their  heads  with  a  self-flattered  sagacity,  as 
much  as  to  say,  "  I  told  you  so."  Certainly  the  loss 
of  this  ship  was  a  great  blow  to  the  colonists,  as  it 
contained  their  fishing  gear,  so  necessary  for  their 
use  in  obtaining  a  livelihood. 

Another  disappointment  to  Egede  and  his  friends 
was  the  bare  and  inhospitable  character  of  the  country. 
They  had  cherished  dreams  of  a  land  green  and  beauti- 
ful with  grass  and  trees,  instead  of  which  they  found . 
nothing  but  a  dreary  wilderness,  without  a  blade  of 
herbage  and  most  desolate.  They  had  expected  some 
privations,  of  course,  but  hoped  to  find  a  soil  capable 
of  cultivation,  where  by  industry  and  patience  they 
might  lay  the  foundations  of  a  flourishing  settlement. 
But  there  seemed  little  chance  of  this  being  the  case  ; 
the  land  was  hard  and  unproductive,. and  even  the  sea 


o 
n 

M 
2! 

> 

o 
w 


i 


m 


o 

n 

w 
z 

> 
z 

o 

M 


li'^l 


45 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  DELIVERANCE. 


47 


had  for  their  inexperienced  hands  no  fish.  The  n  to 
make  matters  worse  the  natives  stood  aloof  from  them 
with  distrust.  At  first  they  seemed  more  friendly, 
and  even  offered  to  help  the  strangers  in  building 
their  houses ;  but  when  they  saw  that  they  meant  to 
stay  as  in  a  permanent  abode,  these  wild  men  resented 
the  intrusion,  and  patriotically  refused  to  help  them. 
Vainly  the  colonists  tried  to  propitiate  them  with 
gifts ;  they  only  slunk  away  with  fear  and  scowling 
looks.  Significant  gestures  told  the  visitors  to  begin 
at  once,  or  the  snow  and  cold  would  soon  put  an  end 
to  them  all.  For  a  time  the  natives  resolutely  refused 
to  allow  Egede  to  enter  their  wretched  dwellings  or 
permit  any  familiar  intercourse.  There  was  indeed 
little  to  encourage  the  colonists  to  make  any  advances 
towards  such  a  people.  They  were  filthy  in  their 
habits  and  persons,  and,  with  their  Battened  noses, 
high  cheek-bones  and  little,  glittering  eyes,  intensely 
ugly.  Short  of  stature,  a  sort  of  dirty  brown  skin, 
their  bodies  thickly  covered  with  sealskin,  they  ambled 
about  in  a  clumsy  fashion.  None  of  the  people 
seemed  to  have  the  vaguest  idea  of  religion  ;  they 
had  evidently  no  public  worship,  and  were  utterly 
dark  and  cruel. 

And  these  were  the  people  for  whom  Egede  had 
left  his  home  and  country,  and  crossed  those  wintry 
seas !  No  wonder  he  felt  troubled  and  discouraged. 
Where  were  the  Christians  about  whom  he  had  read 
in  the  old  books  at  Vaagen  ?  Where  the  remnant  of 
those  pious  colonists  so  long  lost  in  history,  who 
were  to  come  with  outstretched  hands  to  bid  him 
welcome,  as  the  apostle  from  afar?  He  looked  in 
vain  across  those  snowy  wastes  for  signs  of  a  ruined 


Ill 


48 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


house  of  prayer ;  in  his  lonely  walks  about  his  new 
settlement,  he  listened  for  some  sound  of  singing,  for 
the  songs  which  he  had  heard  filling  the  air  in  his 
dreams  at  Bergen,  of  the  groups  of  worshippers  he  had 
seen  in  fancy  amid  the  snow.  But  the  solitudes  were 
silent,  save  for  the  croak  of  some  northern  bird,  the 
wail  of  the  wintry  wind,  or  perchance,  the  coarse 
mocking  laughter  of  some  Esquimaux  looking  on. 
Doubts,  icy  in  their  touch  as  the  cold  landscape, 
sometimes  chilled  his  very  soul ;  had  he  after  all 
followed  a  chimera,  and  had  there  been  no  Divine 
call  ?  He  looked  again ;  then  the  breath  of  the  Lord 
righted  his  tempest-driven  faith,  and  he  saw  in  these 
poor  heathen,  so  destitute  of  love  or  comeliness, 
brethren  for  whom  in  Christ's  name,  he  must  work 
and  give  his  life. 

Patiently,  and  with  infinite  tact,  he  strove  to  win 
their  confidence.  By  degrees  the  distrust  melted, 
and  while  still  showing  no  particular  interest  in  his 
comrades,  they  began  to  listen  and  even  respect 
Hans  Egede.  In  time,  indeed,  they  paid  him  the 
compliment  of  inviting  him  to  their  houses — if  such 
a  term  could  be  applied  to  foul- smelling  huts  of 
earth,  utterly  without  ventilation,  quite  dark,  save  for 
the  fitful  blaze  of  odorous  train-oil,  and  only  to  be 
approached  on  hands  and  knees  by  a  long  and  stifling 
passage.  Of  course  his  first  requirement  was  to 
master  some  words  of  their  language,  a  tongue  singu- 
larly guttural  and  unmusical.  He  succeeded  in  this 
by  seizing  upon  an  interrogative  which  he  found  often 
used, "  Kina  "  meaning  "what  is  this  ? "  Thus,  as  he  sat 
in  their  huts,  or  moved  amongst  them  in  their  daily 
occupations,  he  would  point  to  this  and  that,  asking, 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  DELIVERANCE. 


49 


"  Kina  ?  "  and  noting  carefully  the  reply.  Then  in  his 
home,  by  the  midnight  candle  light,  when  his  wife 
and  children  were  asleep,  the  faithful  missionary 
would  gather  together  his  little  store  of  words  for  the 
day,  and  record  them  for  his  service  in  the  work  of 
God. 

In  doing  this,  he  was  simply  performing  the 
laborious,  but  invaluable  work,  to  which  every  pioneer 
missionary  must  put  his  hand,  and  leaving  behind 
for  his  successors  that  open  door  of  language,  in 
which  can  be  uttered  the  glad  tidings  of  a  common 
salvation. 


:M 


f' 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ALMOST  ABANDONED. 

"  The  mystic  mazes  of  Thy  will, 
The  shadows  of  celestial  light, 
Are  past  the  power  of  human  skill ; 
But  what  th'  Eternal  acts  is  right." 

Chatterton. 

IN   every  country,  where,  for  the   first  time,  the 
presence  of  the  missionary  is  made  known,  there 
is  found  one  common  belief — that  in  the  existence 
of  an  evil  spirit.    And  this  is  the  horror  that 
startles  the  African  in  the  equatorial  wilderness,  that 
makes  the  Indian  tremble  at  the  waving  of  a  leaf  at  sun- 
set, that  haunts  the  redskin  in  the  solitude  of  the  prairie, 
that  paralyzes  the  dusky  giant  of  the  South  Sea,  as 
he  falls  prostrate  before  his  idol  of  ugliness.     The 
universal   fear  of  an   unseen  and   all-powerful    evil 
worker  seems  the  burden  of  the  unenlightened  soul 
of  man.    And  this  characteristic  was  true  in  Egede's 
first  mission  to  the  Esquimaux  of  Greenland.    They 
have  a  notion  of  two  great  spirits,  one  Torngarsuk, 
50     -     ■    .. 


ALMOST  ABAWDONED. 


51 


the  supreme  good,  and  the  other  a  female,  repre- 
senting the  evil  element  in  the  world  ;  but  the  former 
has  no  beneficent  attributes,  inspiring  them  solely 
with  an  awful  fear,  while  the  other  is  in  league  with 
a  multitude  of  minor  evil  spirits  which  have  to  be 
perpetually  propitiated  by  the  superstitious  Esqui- 
maux. These,  as  in  all  similar  superstitions,  where 
fear  is  the  element  of  worship,  the  indispensable 
priest  comes  in,  and  the  man  who  acts  in  this 
capacity  in  Greenland,  standing  midway  between  the 
dangerous  deity  and  the  frightened  people,  is  called 
an  Angekok.  This  sorcerer,  or  diviner  of  evil  spirits, 
exercises  an  immense  in.iuence  over  the  poor  natives 
of  Greenland,  and  each  is  supposed  to  have  his 
familiar  spirit,  who  can  at  will  charm  away  evil 
influences  ard  bring  good  things  to  pass.  It  is 
needless  to  remark  that  such  an  individual  professing 
such  forms  is  popular,  and  largely  suppc-'ted. 

When  Egede  commenced  his  work  in  Greenland, 
the  people,  fearing  his  power  to  work  them  mischief, 
invoked  the  aid  of  their  angekoks  to  destroy  the 
stranger.  All  sorts  of  wild  incantations  were  tried,  and 
the  whole  armoury  of  devilish  wizardry  was  ransacked 
against  the  man  of  God  in  vain;  so  that,finding  him  un- 
affected by  all  this,  they  adroitly,  as  so  many  have  done 
before,  gave  out  that  he  was  himself  a  great  angekok, 
and  there  was  no  need  to  fear  him.  From  that 
moment  a  certain  respect  was  shown  him,  sufficient 
to  protect  him  and  his  family  from  injury.  But  that 
had  its  drawbacks,  as  they  expected  from  him  the 
rites  and  mysterious  practices  of  their  own  wizards. 
As  an  instance  of  this,  they  looked  to  him  as  able  to 
heal  their  diseases,  and  when  he  prayed  with  them  to 


'2 


:  !■! 


^ 


s» 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


this  end,  and  ministered  as  far  as  possible  to  their 
needs,  they  insisted  upon  him  blowing  in  their  faces, 
as  the  angekoks  did  when  called  in  for  like  cases. 

His  success  in  healing  soon  brought  him  many 
supplicants,  to  whom  he  endeavoured,  as  far  as  his 
knowledge  of  the  language  would  allow,  to  explain 
that  the  glory  must  be  given  to  God,  who  is  merci- 
ful and  full  of  compassion. 

On  one  occasion  they  brought  a  blind  man  to  him, 
and  begged  that  he  would  touch  his  eyes  as  Jesus 
did,  and  another  time  they  led  the  missionary  to  a 
grave  entreating  him  to  raise  the  dead  to  life 
again. 

In  presenting  the  truths  of  the  Christian  religion, 
he  found  great  difficulty,  as  many  texts  of  Scripture 
were  quite  inexplicable  to  such  a  people.  Thus,  the 
verse  which  speaks  of  "  the  Lamb  of  God  which 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  could  not  be 
understood  by  a  people  who  had  never  seen  a  sheep, 
and  whose  only  creature  to  take  the  place  of  the 
lamb  was  a  young  seal. 

The  Gospel  narratives,  with  their  peculiarly 
oriental  surroundings  had  to  be  retold  or  carefully 
explained,  and  it  was  a  favourite  and  successful 
practice  ot  Egede's  to  get  his  little  son  to  draw 
pictures  illustrating  Christ  blessing  the  children, 
healing  the  sick,  and  dying  on  the  Cross,  and  hold 
them  up  before  the  Greenlanders  while  the  Gospel 
was  preached  unto  them.  This  led  them  to  ask 
questions  which  gave  the  missionary  fresh  oppor- 
tunities of  attaining  their  language,  and  in  return  of 
explaining  to  their  poor,  dull  understanding  and 
yearning  hearts  the  way  of  life. 


t] 
n 
d 

P 
ti 

ai 


the 

not 

mei 

in 

Arc 


ALMOST  ABANDONED. 


53 


But  in  many  things  he  saw  that  they  were  not 
trustworthy,  and  needed  a  strong  hand.  While  in 
many  respects  the  Greenlanders  were  willing  to 
do  what  was  required,  they  had  all  the  nature  of  a 
pilfering  and  unreliable  race  of  heathen.  Many 
times  they  showed  a  kindness  which  was  not  genuine, 
and  Egede  felt  that,  if  he  would  do  anything  with 


EGEUE  AND   HIS   SON   TEACHING   NATIVE   BJYS. 

them,  a  sound  discipline  must  be  secured.  He  had 
noticed  a  great  partiality  they  had  for  one  of  the 
men  he  had  brought  with  him,  named  Aaron  ;  and 
in  particular  one  Greenlander,  whose  name  was 
Arok,  seemed  very  desirous  of  this  man's  company, 


;! 


m 


54 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


probably  for  the  similarity  of  the  name.  Egede 
determined,  therefore,  to  show  a  little  confidence  in 
them  by  arranging  with  this  member  of  his  party, 
with  his  concurrence,  to  stay  behind  in  the  Esquimaux 
settlement  a  few  miles  inland,  so  that  he  might  get  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  people.  After  his  preaching, 
Egede  went  home  without  his  man,  purposely  dis- 
regarding the  cries  of  the  people  telling  him  that  his 
companion  had  been  forgotten.  Some  days  after 
this  they  came  to  tell  him  that  their  visitor  was  well, 
and  he  prevailed  upon  them  to  let  him  stay  the 
winter  with  them.  The  poor  man,  however,  had  not  a 
very  good  time  in  these  quarters  ;  after  a  while  they 
began  to  treat  him  with  great  cruelty,  robbing  him  of 
his  clothes  and  gun,  and  on  one  occasion  beating 
him  until  blood  flowed.  Before  he  returned  they 
repented  themselves,  and  endeavoured  by  presents 
and  kindnesses  to  make  it  up  with  him,  begging 
him  very  earnestly  not  to  acquaint  Hans  Egede  of 
their  conduct.  This  shows  the  respect  which,  at  last, 
the  missionary  had  gained,  and  when  he  heard  the 
story  of  what  they  had  done  he  said  nothing  in 
his  next  visit  but  left  another  man  in  like  manner, 
committing  him  solemnly  to  their  care  and  affection, 
a  charge  which  on  this  occasion  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  disregarded. 

While,  however,  he  was  making  some  slight  progress 
with  his  mission  work,  there  was  a  growing  discontent 
among  his  own  people  at  the  failure  of  any  trade  with 
the  natives.  It  must  be  remembered  that  most  of 
his  party  had  come  out  with  the  sole  object  of 
furthering  a  commercial  enterprise,  and  it  was  to 
them    naturally    very    disappointing    to    find    such 


t 


ALMOST  ABANDONED. 


55 


meagre  progress  in  this  direction.  This  was  the 
more  aggravating  to  these  Danes,  because  they  found 
the  Greenlanders  willing  enough  to  do  business  with 
the  Dutch  traders  when  they  called  ;  and  once,  when 
a  fleet  of  Dutch  ships  passed,  and  one  put  into  the 
harbour  of  the  colony,  they  found  the  natives  exchange 
more  commodities  with  the  Dutch  in  half-an-hour 
than  they  had  been  able  to  do  all  the  winter. 

Then  came  the  pinch  of  hunger  to  accentuate  their 
miseries.  Having  no  proper  tackle  with  which  to  catch 
fish  they  could  not  provide  food  from  the  sea,  and  the 
reindeer,  which  they  occasionally  saw  in  the  interior, 
could  not  be  captured.  An  attack  of  scurvy,  too, 
seized  upon  the  colony  and  distressed  them  beyond 
measure. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  under  such 
terrible  calamities  they  clamoured  to  Hans  Egede  to 
return.  When  he  exhorted  them  to  patience  they 
broke  out  in  reproaches,  and  like  Israel  in  the  wilder- 
ness they  murmured  against  the  Moses  who  had  led 
them  from  a  land  of  fleshpots  into  starvation  and 
suffering.  What  could  he  do?  On  the  one  hand 
he  saw  these  men  who  at  his  bidding  had  adventured 
their  lives  now  in  open  mutiny;  on  the  other  hand 
the  Greenlanders,  seeing  the  distress  and  conflicts, 
mocked  with  derision  the  man  who  had  given  up 
all  for  their  sakes,  but  who  now  seemed  forsaken  by 
his  friends.  Then  he  looked  on  his  faithful  wife,  so 
patiently  enduring,  and  his  children  growing  up  amid 
such  privations  and  trouble,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  his  heart  failed  him  when  he 
thought  how  probably  they  would  be  murdered  by 
thiese  savage  natives  when  he  was  left  by  his  com- 


56 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


panions.  He  besought  the  men  to  stay  with  him  but 
a  little  longer,  to  wait  at  any  rate  till  the  end  of  June, 
when  a  ship  of  relief  would  probably  come  to  their 
assistance  and  if  not  they  might  leave  him.  This 
counsel  prevailed  as  regards  six  of  the  men,  but 
when  these  found  the  stores  running  short  they  also 
told  him  that  they  would  depart  in  the  first  Dutch 
ship  which  came  in  sight.  At  this  crisis  Egede  gave 
way  and  reluctantly  told  his  wife  of  his  decision — for 
her  sake  and  her  children's  he  would  return.     Never 


' 


>"Av->T'"^% 


THE  SHIP  COMING  IN  FROM  BERGEN. 


n 


did  Christian  woman  rise  to  the  occasion  as  she  did 
that  day.  She  refused  to  desert  the  post  of  duty,  and 
told  him  it  was  his  call  to  stay  where  God  had  placed 
him.  Not  only  did  she  thus  admonish  her  husband, 
but  she  ran  into  the  camp  and  ordered  the  men  to 
cease  demolishing  the  house  since  she,  a  frail  woman, 
had  refused  to  pack  up  her  goods  and  retreat.  She 
spoke  of  the  certainty  of  the  ship  coming  soon  to 
bring  them  support.  Turning  to  her  husband  she  said : 
"  Wait  a  while,  it  may  be  that  while  we  are  giving 
way  to  doubt  and  fear,  God's  providence  is  working 


■Hi' 


ALMOST  ABANDONED. 


57 


some  good  plan  for  us.     Wait  but  a  week  or  two  and 


»» 


see. 

Three  weeks  thus  passed :  no  ship  appeared,  and 
the  gloom  over  the  little  settlement  grew  deeper  and 
deeper.  Egede  torn  with  distracting  emotions  worked 
on  with  a  desperate  sense  of  being  near  his  end,  while 
his  heroic  wife,  strong  in  a  mighty  faith  in  her  God, 
cctr^orted  her  children  with  the  assurance  that  help 
war  r  i.  nd.  Then  came  the  27th  June,  and,  like  the 
Luc.  <'  /.  Scotch  lassie  who  heard  the  distant  pibroch, 
this  good  woman,  scanning  again  the  waste  of  wintry 
sea,  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  approaching  sail. 
She  sang  her  song  of  thanksgiving  to  the  astonished 
and  weary-hearted  people,  and  soon  the  ship  came 
right  up  to  their  shore,  to  be  received  with  acclama- 
tions of  gratitude.  The  ample  stores  which  were  set 
ashore  soon  replenished  the  famished  colony,  and 
then,  what  was  indeed  food  of  a  higher  importance  to 
Egede,  the  captain  told  him  the  good  news  of 
increased  interest  in  the  mission  amongst  those  at 
home;  the  Bergen  merchants,  notwithstanding  the 
discouraging  accounts  brought  by  those  who  had 
been  driven  back,  had  determined  to  support  and 
push  forward  the  work  in  Greenland.  The  College 
of  Missions  too,  had  sent  their  letter  of  encourag- 
ment,  begging  Mr.  Egede,  now  that  he  had  set  his 
hand  to  the  plough,  not  to  look  back  until  the  work 
amongst  these  heathens  had  been  established.  The 
king,  whose  royal  favour  they  had  already  experi- 
enced, was  not  behind-hand  with  his  interest,  for  he 
had  started  a  lottery  to  raise  funds  for  the  work. 
This  not  proving  sufficiently  successful  he  had 
commanded  a  levy  upon  all  his  subjects  in  Norway 


*  ■'( 


:\  i 


58 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


and  Denmark  under  the  style  of  the  Greenland 
assessment,  which  contributed  a  handsome  sum  to 
the  treasury  of  the  mission. 

Egede  took  fresh  heart  of  hope,  and  the  whole 
colony  felt  the  stimulation  of  the  news.  He  made  up 
his  mind  to  further  cultivate  intercourse  with  the 
natives,  and  by  a  better  knowledge  of  the  languages, 
bring  them  to  the  feet  of  Christ.  To  this  end  he  took 
his  two  little  boys  and  went  inland  among  the 
natives,  there  to  spend  the  winter  of  1722.  For  a 
long  time  the  sickening  filth  and  degradation  of  the 
people  was  almost  unbearable.  Their  mud  huts,  in 
which  with  his  children  he  went  to  live,  were  inferior 
to  pig-styes,  and  with  all  apertures  closed,  the  stench 
forced  them  sometimes  to  rush  out  for  a  moment  into 
the  keen,  cold  air.  The  intelligence  of  these  people 
is  chiefly  displayed  in  their  seal  fishing.  The 
accompanying  picture  very  clearly  exhibits  this.  The 
Greenlander  having  discovered  the  small  breathing 
hole  of  the  seal  by  the  aid  of  his  dog,  sits  down  to 
patiently  wait,  and  sometimes  for  many  long  hours, 
for  the  puff  of  the  creature's  breath  as  it  rises  in  the 
ice  cavity  it  has  made.  Then  with  unerring  aim  he 
strikes  his  harpoon  down  the  hole  killing  the  seal, 
which  is  held  by  the  barbed  point  until  the  hole  can 
be  enlarged  sufficient  to  bring  it  to  the  surface. 

At  last  Egede  persuaded  two  deserted  Esquimaux 
children  to  come  and  live  with  him  in  order  that  they 
might  be  educated,  and  also  that  his  children  might 
have  a  better  opportunity  of  catching  up  their  words. 
This  experiment,  however,  soon  led  to  inconvenience, 
for  six  people  asked  to  lodge  with  him  forthwith. 
Others  followed,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  natives 


ALMOST  ABANDONED. 


59 


were  attracted,  not  by  any  real  desire  to  be  of  service 
to  him,  but  by  a  chance  of  living  at  his  expense  and 
spying  out  his  possessions. 

They  begged  almost  everything  they  saw,  and 
when  the  winter  was  over,  and  the  fishing  season 
commenced,  they  stole  away  privately,  and  left  him 
and  the  two 
boys  on  whom 
he  had  be- 
stowed such 
care  and  atten- 
tion, thus  disap- 
pointing all  his 
hopes.  They 
had  been  slow 
scholars ;  the 
restless  life  that 
they  had  led 
made  them  im- 
patient of  any 
restraint,  and  it 
was  only  by  a 
present  of  a 
fish-hook  for  . 
every  letter  they 
learned  that 
any  progress 
could  be  made. 
Then  they  began  to  speak  contemptuously  of  their 
teacher  and  his  friends,  because  they  only  gazed  at 
paper  and  scrawls  of  ink,  while  the  Greenlanders  were 
brave  huntsmen  who  pursued  the  reindeer  and  could 
hunt  the  seal.     If  teaching  these  people  to  read  was 


WATCHING   FOR  A   SEAL. 


If 

ll 


ll 


6o 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


difficult,  it  was  much  more  so  to  get  them  to  under- 
stand the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  reh'gion,  and  with 
indifference  they  turned  away  and  followed  the  old 
practices  again.  What  pain  of  heart  all  this  caused 
to  the  patient  missionary  ?  Truly  the  soil  was  hard 
and  unreceptive,  and  there  were  times  when  in  the 
anguish  of  his  soul  he  felt  he  had  struggled  and 
toiled  for  nought. 

His  next  concern  was  to  find  out  some  more 
favourable  position  for  the  colony;  the  little  island 
upon  which  they  had  built  their  house  was  in  some 
respects  unsuitable,  and  Egede  wanted  to  cultivate 
some  district  on  the  mainland.  He  sent  exploring 
parties  of  his  people  in  various  directions,  and  finally 
he  decided  upon  a  creek  which  ran  up  from  the  sea 
and  possessed  many  advantages.  They  began 
laboriously  to  carry  stones  and  timber  to  establish 
the  colony  there,  and  almost  accomplished  their 
preparations,  giving  it  the  name  of  Priesterfiord,  when 
the  stormy  weather  soon  showed  that  it  would  be 
dangerous  and  must  be  abandoned. 

Going  farther  in  search  of  a  better  position,  Egede 
came  unexpectedly  upon  some  of  the  old  relics,  about 
which  in  the  years  long  since  he  had  thought  so  much. 
He  sailed  up  Ameralik  Bay  in  the  year  1723,  and 
penetrated  further  the  broad  inlet  called  Balls  River, 
where  he  discovered  according  to  the  report  of  the 
Greenlanders,  that  the  seals  lay  in  hundreds  upon  the 
ice,  although  he  found  it  difficult  to  catch  any.  But 
going  ashore  he  sighted  in  a  beautiful  valley  a  strange 
quadrangular  building  of  very  ancient  construction. 
It  was  covered  with  moss  and  greatly  decayed,  but 
the  masonry  was  evidently  that  of  the  hardy  and 


p. 


:    lit 


A^M*^' 


ABANDONED. 


6l 


pious  Norsemen,  and  tnis  was  their  church.  It  had 
been  roofless  for  centuries,  but,  as  he  passed  through 
the  ruined  doorway  and  measured  the  dimensions  of 
the  inner  walls,  he  thought  of  the  songs  of  praise 
which  had  once  ascended  there  in  the  olden  time. 
Passing  round  the  church  he  noticed  the  remains  of 
the  old  houses  of  the  worshippers,  and  the  graves 
where  at  last  they  found  their  rest. 


^V^5v^«^,  ^^^^^. 


1  < 

iil 


i 


GREENLANDER  IN  HIS  KAYAK. 


CHAPTER  V. 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW. 


"  Not  enjoyment,  and  not  sorrow, 
Is  our  destined  end  to-day, 
But  to  act  that  each  to-morrow 
Finds  us  further  than  to-day." 

Longfellow. 

NOW  it  seemed,  indeed,  that  light  was  breaking 
over  the  snow-clad  Greenland  hills.  The 
mission  was  taking  fresh  root,  and  under  its 
brave  leader  was  becoming  permanently 
established  in  the  land.  Other  sh'is  arrived  from 
Bergen,  and  one  of  these  brought  "  Dt  only  supplies, 
but  what  was  perhaps  their  greater  requisite,  a  fresh 
helper  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Albert  Top.  The 
presence  of  this  new  helper  was,  of  course,  a  great  joy 
to  Hans  Egede.  Hitherto  his  hands  had  been  tied 
by  so  many  duties,  but  now  he  could  hand  over  some 
62 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW. 


63 


of  these  to  his  colleague  and  carry  out  his  cherished 
intention  of  exploring  the  districts  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  colony.  While  his  great  aim  was  to  preach  the 
Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  these  people, 
Egede  had  all  an  explorer's  yearning  for  seeking 
fresh  fields  and  pastures  new.  He  had  had  his 
appetite  for  discovery  whetted  by  the  glowing  accounts 
given  by  some  sailors,  who  told  him  of  the  eastern 
coast  of  Greenland  as  offering  many  inducements  to 
settlers. 

It  was  already  late  in  the  summer,  and  the  ice 
would  soon  begin  to  lock  up  the  water-ways ;  but  he 
determined  to  make  a  start,  and  fitted  out  a  little 
expedition  of  two  shallops  and  a  few  stores,  and  with 
these  went  forth  to  explore  Frobisher's  Straits.    The 
voyage  was,  as  expected,  beset  with  many  difficulties. 
When  they  reached  the  Straits  it  was  only  to  find  the 
pack  ice  driving  in  masses  before  the  north  wind,  and 
when  they  essayed  to  enter  what  seemed  an  opening, 
the  Greenland  pilot  dissuaded  them  with  many  fore- 
bodings.    Eventually  they  got  clear  of  the  ice  and 
reached  an  open  sound  beyond  Cape  Comfort,  but 
here  they  were  doomed  to  disappointment,  as  it  only 
rounded  again  south-west  and  back  to  the  open  sea. 
Egede  determined  at  any  cost  to  push  through  the 
sound,  which  divided  the  mainland  from  Cape  Fare- 
well.    Here,  however,  some  natives  approached  them, 
who,  whether  in  sincerity  or  not  they  could  not  say, 
drew  such  a  picture  of  the  storms  which  beat  upon 
that  shore,  and  the  wild  and  cruel  people  who  lived 
there,  that  the  boatmen  of  the  shallops  were  seized 
with  a  panic  of  fear,  and  flatly  refused  to  obey  orders. 
Vainly  Egede  reasoned  with  them  ;  neither  promises 


:[: 


i 


64 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


of  reward  nor  the  pains  of  disobedience  affected  them, 
and  so  very  reluctantly  the  order  was  given  to  turn 
homewards.  His  voyage  was  not,  happily,  without 
some  interest  and  result.  The  old  traditions  of  lost 
Greenland  Christians  were  making  him  eagerly  scan 
the  coast  for  signs  of  rudera^  or  relics  of  that  earlier 
worship.  On  his  way  home  he  managed  to  explore 
several  inlets  where  there  was  undoubtedly  evidence 
of  the  Norwegian  occupation.  One  place  especially 
attracted  his  attention.  It  was  called  by  the  Green- 
landers,  Kakoktok,  and  here  he  found  the  ruins  of  an 
old  church  fifty  feet  long  and  twenty  broad,  and  the 
walls  six  feet  thick,  pierced  by  windows.  Outside 
was  a  churchyard  wall  in  a  good  state  of  preservation, 
and  the  remains  of  several  houses  in  the  vicinity. 
Egede  felt  strange  emotions  as  he  picked  his  way 
amongst  these  ancient  stones.  All  the  old  love  and 
yearning  for  the  fate  of  the  Norse  Christians  came 
back  again.  Heaps  of  rubbish  by  the  side  of  the 
church  were  turned  over,  and  he  desired  to  explore 
the  graves  around,  but  the  Greenlanders  true  to  their 
superstitions  refused  to  do  this,  lest  disturbing  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  they  might  do  them  some  injury 
in  return.  So  he  had  to  be  content  with  filling  his 
pockets  with  a  few  bones,  pieces  of  coal,  and  scraps 
of  earthen  urns,  and  retraced  his  steps  with  many 
thoughts. 

Another  feature  of  this  voyage  was  that  he  found 
his  reputation  had  been  carried  into  these  far  districts. 
There  was  a  great  distrust  of  the  Danish  sailors 
amongst  the  natives,  and  at  first  nothing  could  per- 
suade them  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  visitors  ;  but 
when   the   Greenland   pilot  assured   them  that    the 


I-'- 


fe; 


rfe- 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW. 


65 


the 


( 


minister,  the  great  Angekok  of  the  Kablunaks,  was 
with  them,  they  evinced  great  joy  and  welcomed 
Egede  with  shouts,  taking  him  hither  and  thither 
as  a  friend  whom  they  could  trust  and  love.  Some- 
thing of  the  "  loaves  and  fishes  "  spirit  was  evidently 
at  the  bottom  of  this.  They  brought  out  their  sick 
and  begged  him  to  release  them  from  their  troubles. 
One  man  who  was  blind  implored  him  to  touch  his 
eyes.  Egede  talked  to  him  of  the  Great  Physician 
and  asked  him  whether  he  could  believe  in  the  Son 
of  God,  then  rubbed  his  eyes  with  a  little  brandy  and 
went  his  way.  Thirteen  years  afterwards  this  same 
man  visited  the  mission  colony  to  thank  him  for  the 
restoration  of  his  sight. 

They  had  been  able  to  send  home  to  Bergen  some 
fine  cargoes  of  whales'  blubber  oil,  when  intelligence 
came  in  the  spring  that  there  was  a  good  fishing- 
ground  a  hundred  leagues  north  of  the  colony.  Egede 
made  up  another  expedition  and  in  February  pro- 
ceeded thither,  but  after  a  month's  excessive  labour 
and  suffering  from  the  cold,  they  had  to  return  unsuc- 
cessful. Efforts  were  made  to  bring  the  land  under 
cultivation,  and  some  rocks  were  mined  to  discover 
their  mineral  wealth.  In  some  cases  Egede  caused 
fires  to  be  made  so  that  the  frozen  ground  might  be 
thawed,  and  the  corn  was  sown.  This  came  up  and 
bade  fair  to  bear  crop,  but  when  in  the  ear  the  keen 
night  frosts  killed  it  and  it  had  to  be  cut  unripe.  The 
interest  which  Egede  took  in  the  commercial  develop- 
ment of  the  colony  might  have  been  misunderstood 
by  those  who  believed  it  to  be  his  sole  duty  to  preach 
the  Gospel.  Crantz,  the  old  chronicler,  who  has 
preserved  to  us  the  precious  details  of  the  life  and 


66 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


work  of  Egede,  anticipates  this  objection  by  the 
following  explanation : — 

"  By  all  this  we  see  how  busily  Mr.  Egede  was 
occupied  in  managing  for  the  poor  of  the  colony, 
whose  direction  he  had  accepted  from  the  company. 
This  was  the  reason,  as  he  writes,  that  he  was  con- 
strained to  intermeddle  in  affairs  that  might  else  have 
been  taken  ill  of  him  as  a  divine.  This  was  also  the 
reason  of  his  undertaking  so  many  difficult  voyages 
with  danger  of  his  life,  to  show  any  one  by  his  own 
example  how  he  should  act  and  to  inspect  with  his 
own  eyes  where  and  how  the  company's  interest 
might  be  promoted,  because  he  was  fully  sensible  that 
the  spiritual  concern — viz.,  the  conversion  of  the 
Greenlanders,  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart,  could 
not  be  attained  but  on  supposition  at  the  same  time 
of  some  sufficient  temporal  acquisition." 

With  the  help  of  his  colleague  he  laboured  on  still 
more  strenuously  for  the  salvation  of  these  heathen. 
He  took  the  greatest  pains  to  teach  them  the  truths, 
the  doctrines,  and  the  facts  of  the  Christian  religion. 
His  plan  was  to  translate,  not  without  much  difficulty, 
short  questions  concerning  the  Fall,  the  Creation, 
Redemption,  Resurrection,  and  Salvation  through  the 
death  of  Christ,  and  also  to  write  short  prayers  for 
them  to  say  and  hymns  for  them  to  sing.  The  one 
thing  then  was  for  the  people  to  be  taught  all  this,  and 
by  dint  of  many  questions  to  make  it  clear  to  their 
limited  intelligences  and  fix  it  on  their  memories. 
Such  was  no  easy  work.  For  a  few  moments  these 
people  seemed  willing  to  listen,  and  then  they  would 
break  out  into  ridicule  and  inattention.  If,  however, 
one  of  their  angekoks  were  present,  order  could  no 


i 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW, 


67 


longer  be  preserved,  for  he  would  commence  his  incan- 
tations, and  mock  the  missionaries  as  they  patiently 
read  on.  These  wizards  had  made  the  people 
believe  that  they  had  been  in  heaven,  and  on  the 
strength  of  this  they  actually  charged  Kgede      'th 


EGEDE  TEACHING  HIS  PEOPLE  TO  PRAY. 

lying,  "  for  they  had  been  there  and  had  seen  no  traces 
of  God's  Son,  nor  had  they  found  the  firmament  so 
out  of  repair  as  to  be  in  danger  of  a  dissolution,"  as 
the  Greenlanders  always  construed  the  doctrine  of  the 
end  of  the  world.    This  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 


ill 


h\ 


68 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


angekoks  and  their  disciples  became  so  vindictive  that 
the  Danish  colonists  felt  it  their  duty  to  interfere  for 
the  protection  of  Mr.  Egede.  They  forcibly  ejected 
the  turbulent,  and  set  sailors  to  preserve  order  in  the 
meetings ;  but  as  that  did  not  quite  answer  the 
purpose,  they  announced  that  they  would  punish 
with  death  the  angekoks  as  imposters  and  seducers 
of  the  people,  so  as  to  bring  the  natives  under 
discipline. 

Here  seemed  to  be  an  effective  check  upon  these 
unseemly  scenes,  and  some  of  the  principal  disturbers 
became  anxious  to  have  the  help  and  teaching  of  Mr. 
Egede,  especially  in  the  matter  of  healing. 

"  Once,  even,  an  angekok  applied  to  him  for  this. 
He  reproved  the  man  for  his  impostures  and  assured 
him  his  child  would  die,  (for  it  was  in  its  last  agonies) 
but  if  he  would  call  upon  God  with  him  and  let  the 
child  be  baptised  it  might  still  go  to  heaven.  The 
man  gave  his  assent  to  all  that  he  said  and  earnestly 
begged  him  to  baptise  the  child,  which  he  accordingly 
did,  and  after  calling  upon  the  name  of  God,  the  child 
yielded  up  its  spirit  directly  afterwards.  And  when 
the  family,  according  to  custom,  had  howled  awhile, 
Mr.  Egede  was  urged  to  carry  the  corpse  to  its  burial, 
because  no  one  else  was  counted  worthy  by  its  father. 
Nay,  after  the  interment,  the  man  and  his  family 
desired  to  be  baptised  also,  but  he  declined  doing  it, 
telling  them  that  they  as  adults  must  first  learn  the 
will  of  God." 

One  day  when  it  was  raining  hard,  they  desired 
the  missionary  to  pray  to  his  God,  whom  he  described 
as  an  almighty  being,  that  He  would  send  them 
better  weather,  so  that  the  water  should   not  soak 


i 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW. 


69 


through  the  skins  of  their  tents.  On  another  occasion, 
when  he  desired  their  attention  to  most  solemn  sub- 
jects, they  simply  danced  around  him  howling  and 
drumming  most  hideously  all  the  time. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  one  of  the  victims  of  an 
angekok's  superstitions  came  to  Egede  for  help 
and  light,  and  was  so  convinced  of  the  truth  that 
he  returned  to  his  village  with  some  texts  chalked 
upon  a  board,  so  that  his  friends  might  also  be 
converted. 

The  influence  of  the  wizards  or  priests  upon  the 
people  was  very  strong,  for  they  played  upon  the 
superstitious  curiosity  of  their  dupes  with  stories  of 
incredible  nonsense.  Naturally  the  people  were  not 
averse  to  discuss  religious  questions  ;  too  ready  were 
they,  in  fact,  to  argue  about  the  soul  than  to  come 
to  close  quarters  and  find  salvation  for  themselves. 
They  had  the  characteristics  of  the  Sadducees  of  the 
past  age  and  the  present. 

"  The  Greenlanders  liked  to  hear  that  the  soul  did 
not  die  with  the  body,  that  it  would  receive  its  body 
again  at  the  resurrection,  without  being  subject  any 
more  to  sickness,  and  that  friends  and  relations  would 
meet  again.  They  were  very  anxious  to  hear  all  that 
he  told  them  of  spiritual  things,  wh'ch  gave  him  good 
hopes.  But  when  a  subject  had  been  related  to  them 
several  times  over,  and  they  could  not  take  it  in  with 
their  gross  and  carnal  minds,  they  grew  tired,  and 
wanted  to  hear  something  else  that  was  new,  for  they 
imagined  they  believed  already  all  that  he  had  told 
them.  They  were  often  displeased  and  petulant 
when  the  weather  v^^as  bad,  and  attributed  it  to  the 
reading  and  praying,  because  they  supposed  the  air 


70 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


to  be  irritated  by  this ;  or  they  imputed  it  to  their 
giving  credit  to  the  missionary  and  not  continuing  to 
conform  so  strictly  to  the  prescriptions  of  their 
angekoks  in  abstaining  from  certain  meats  and 
employments.  Therefore  if  they  should  listen  to  him 
any  more,  his  prayers  must  first  procure  them  good 
weather,  an  abundance  of  fish,  birds,  and  seals,  and 
also  cure  their  sick.  If  he  desired  them  to  pray,  their 
answer  was,  *We  do  pray,  but  it  signifies  nothing.' 
If  he  told  them  they  should  supplicate  God  chiefly 
for  His  spiritual  gifts,  and  for  the  happiness  of  life 
everlasting,  they  replied,  *  That  we  neither  understand 
nor  desire ;  we  want  nothing  but  healthy  bodies  and 
seals  to  eat,  and  the  angekoks  can  procure  these  for 
us.'  If  he  told  them  of  the  future  judgment  and 
the  eternal  punishment  in  hell-fire,  they  refused 
to  hear  anything  of  it,  or  they  replied  that  their 
angekoks  knew  hell  better,  and  if  it  even  was  so 
hot  yet  there  was  water  enough  in  the  sea  to 
quench  it  and  make  it  tolerable  to  them ;  yea,  it 
would  make  amends  for  the  cold  they  had  endured 
upon  earth. 

"  If  he  endeavoured  to  convince  them  of  the 
impositions  of  the  angekoks,  that  they  had  never 
seen  any  of  them  go  either  to  heaven  or  hell 
because  they  always  chose  darkness  to  rest  their 
legerdemain,  then  they  retorted  the  question  : 
*  Whether  ever  he  had  seen  God  of  whom  he  spoke 
so  much?  * 

"  It  was  extremely  difficult  to  remove  the  mistaken 
conceptions  of  these  people,  or  to  prevent  their 
making  a  quite  sinister  use  of  every  truth  they  heard  ; 
for  instance,  that  God  was  omnipresent,  omnipotent. 


\\ 


f.  ^ 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW. 


fl 


and  benign,  and  that  it  was  His  pleasure  to  help  all 
that  called  upon  Him  in  distress.  And  as  for  the 
conception  of  the  soul  and  its  restoration  they  could 
form  no  idea  of  it." 

This  statement  of  the  mental  condition  of  these 
poor,  ignorant  Greenlanders  indicates  pretty  clearly 
the  difficulties  Egede  had  to  contend  with,  and  also 
suggests  that  their  attitude  in  1725  is  very  little 
dififerent  from  the  hostile  position  of  the  cavillers 
and  unbelievers  of  the  more  accomplished  world  of 
our  own  day. 

Having  carefully  instructed  two  Greenland  boys,  he 
sent  them  home  to  Copenhagen  in  a  passing  ship. 
One  died  on  the  voyage,  but  the  other  reached 
Europe,  and  after  a  short  stay  returned  to  his  native 
land.  This  youth,  whose  name  was  Pock,  when  he 
reached  his  friends  in  Greenland,  had  such  wonders  to 
tell  them  of  the  grandeur  and  state  of  the  royal 
family  of  Denmark  that  he  produced  immense 
excitement.  This  popularity,  however,  seems  to  have 
turned  his  head,  and  he  strangely  lapsed  again  into 
Greenland  immoralities. 

The  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Danish  Government 
to  establish  colonies  on  the  Greenland  coast  greatly 
increased,  and  as  a  result  Egede  received,  what  was 
not  an  unmixed  benefit  to  him,  a  considerable  but 
not  very  select  addition  to  his  colony.  Vessels  of 
war  with  cannon  and  soldiers  began  to  show  them- 
selves in  the  offing,  and  from  these  landed  working 
men  and  their  wives,  who,  however,  in  many  cases,  had 
been  recently  liberated  from  the  jails  of  their  country 
to  settle  at  this  place.  Horses  were  brought  with 
them,  and  they  began  with  a  little  too  much  zeal  to 


72 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


possess  the  land.  To  Egede,  who  had  still  the  great 
responsibility  of  being  leader,  and  heard  of  all  this, 
anxieties  only  increased,  and  when  a  raging  sickness 
began  to  carry  off  the  new-comers,  and  the  horses  died 
for  want  of  some  one  to  look  after  them,  the  soldiers 
openly  mutinied  against  their  officers.  Again  poor 
Egede  was  reproached  for  having  brought  them  into 
a  land  of  desolation  and  misery,  and  his  life  was  so 
threatened  that  he  is  reported  to  have  said  that,  while 
able  in  perfect  security  to  sleep  in  the  tents  of  the 
natives,  he  had  to  keep  a  watch  and  firearms  by  his 
bed  as  a  protection  against  his  fellow  Christians. 

In  truth,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  history  of 
this  mission  is  a  striking  example  of  the  impediment 
which  material  force  and  authority  is  to  the  work  of 
the  Gospel  among  the  heathen.  Had  Egede  been 
left  alone  to  prosecute  his  work  at  his  own  wish,  with- 
out being  backed  up  by  the  military  power  and 
embarrassed  by  commercial  support,  happy  would 
he  have  been.  The  Greenlanders  were  terrified  by 
this  show  of  force,  and  being  compelled  to  associate 
their  minister  with  this  warlike  aggression  of  their 
coasts,  they  retreated  further  inland  or  removed  to 
Disco  Bay.  Egede  had  now  two  fresh  colleagues,  Mr. 
Olaus  Lange  and  Mr.  Harry  Milzoug,  his  former 
fellow-helper,  Albert  Top,  having  been  compelled  on 
account  of  his  health  to  return  home,  taking  with  him 
young  Paul  Egede  for  education  at  the  College  of 
Missions. 

But  this  work,  which  seems  specially  remarkable 
for  its  continual  disappointments,  was  to  sustain  a  still 
greater  shock  in  the  death  of  King  Frederick  IV.,  who 
had   for  so   many  years  been  its  steadfast  friend. 


SUNSHINE  AND  SHADOW. 


73 


;».■; 


When*  the  new  ruler,  Christian  VI.  came  to  the  throne, 
his  advisers  drew  his  attention  to  the  state  of  the 
Greenland  colonists,  and  urged  him  to  abandon  such 
an  unprofitable  enterprise.  The  king  seems  to  have 
been  nothing  loath  to  relieve  his  kingdom  of  this 
burden,  and  in  1731  a  royal  mandate  was  sent  by 
ship  to  Good  Hope  and  the  other  adjacent  colonies, 
commanding  the  people  to  pack  up  and  return  home. 
There  was  certainly  a  provision  which  made  it 
optional  in  the  case  of  Egede,  but  it  was  expressly 
told  him  that  if  he  did  chose  to  remain,  he  must 
expect  no  further  supplies  or  support.  Such  a  blow 
as  this,  by  which  the  fabric  he  had  been  steadily 
building  all  these  weary  years  was  to  be  shattered 
in  a  day,  was  almost  too  much  for  the  faithful  mis- 
sionary. But  he  would  not  abandon  his  post.  He 
begged  the  men  to  stay  behind,  and  pointed  out  that 
leaving  him  defenceless  would  mean  that  the  colony 
would  be  either  devastated  by  the  natives,  now  by  no 
means  friendly  to  the  colonists  as  a  trading  community, 
or  the  place  would  be  captured  by  foreign  adventurers, 
to  the  loss  of  everything.  Fortunately,  the  ship  being 
too  small  to  carry  all,  ten  sailors  elected  to  stay  with 
him  for  the  present,  or  until  the  next  ship  should 
arrive. 

Thus  matters  rested  ;  left  practically  alone,  Egede 
trained  his  second  son  to  direct  the  trading  and  fish- 
ing industry,  while  he  struggled  on,  for  three  years, 
getting  occasionally  some  remnant  of  stores  from 
home,  but  always  with  the  disagreeable  warning  that 
nothing  more  would  follow.  Was  ever  a  missionary's 
faith  and  patience  tried  as  this  man's  was  ?  Against 
such  depression  his  mind  almost  gave  way ;  he  felt 


S  III' 


fn 


\  iji 


^h 


I 


74 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


he  had  toiled  almost  in  vain.  News  came  that  the 
colony  of  Nepisene  had  been  devastated  and  all  the 
stores  burnt.  Added  to  his  mental  worry,  a  serious 
disorder  had  laid  hold  of  his  chest,  and  to  a  great 
extent  he  had  not  strength  to  go  on  his  missionary 
journeys,  but  was  compelled  to  relegate  the  work  of 
teaching  to  his  son.  The  sky  was  indeed  gloomy  and 
the  outlook  despairing;  had  God  forgotten  to  be 
gracious  ?  The  first  streaks  of  dawn  glimmered  on 
the  horizon,  and  soon  the  harbinger  of  hope  and  con- 
solation drew  nigh. 

" '  O  Father!  not  My  will  but  Thine  be  done,' 

So  spake  the  Son. 
Be  this  our  charm,  mellowing  earth's  ruder  noise 

Of  griefs  and  joys. 

That  we  may  cling  for  ever  to  Thy  breast 

In  perfect  rest !" 

Keble. 


f 


T: 


^K 


( 


nc 
se 
be 
in 

St 

m 
w 


I 


te 
le 

IS 

u 

y 

of 

id 

)C 

m 


f 

■J    I 


r 


EGEDE  WITH   IPPEGAN   IN  A  STORM. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  MORAVIANS  COME. 

Faith  climbing  higher  can  descry 
The  glimmering  dawn  beyond  the  gloom, 

God's  promise  in  the  eastern  sky, 
Daybreak  of  hope  o'er  night  of  doom. 

N  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  May,  1733,  a  sail 
was  seen  on  the  horizon.  This  was  no  extraor- 
dinary event  in  itself,  as  from  time  to  time  ships 
of  discovery  and  trade  had  been  sighted  passing 
north  of  the  little  colony.  This  vessel,  however,  was 
seen  to  head  towards  the  land,  and  presently  when  the 
boats  went  out  to  board  her,  it  was  found  that  she  was 
indeed  a  welcome  guest  to  people  who  were  in  such 
straits  as  Egede  and  his  friends.  A  fresh  supply  of 
much-needed  stores  formed  her  cargo,  and  the  captain 
was  commissioned  to  give  to  Egede  a  letter  from  the 

75 


0 


W    1 


1. 1 

i     •1. 


: 


76 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


king  of  Denmark,  assuring  him  of  his  pleasure  in 
noticing  a  revival  of  the  Greenland  trade,  and,  further, 
stating  that  he  had  made  a  provision  as  regards  the 
Mission  of  Good  Hope  of  four  hundred  pounds.  This 
was  good  news,  but  still  more  welcome  was  the  king's 
introduction  of  three  brethren  who  had  come  out  in 
this  ship  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  in 
Greenland.  Who  were  these?  Their  names  were 
Christian  David,  Matthew  Stach,  and  his  brother 
Christian  Stach,  and  they  were  the  pioneer  mission- 
aries of  the  Moravian  Brethren  to  the  Green  landers. 
As  these  good  men  and  their  successors  were  destined 
to  carry  on  the  work  right  up  to  the  present  day,  it 
will  be  interesting  to  review  here  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  their  coming  thither. 

In  the  record  of  religious  persecutions,  the  Church 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  or  United  Brethren,  has  an 
ancient  history  of  honourable  suffering.  Like  the 
Society  of  Friends,  the  early  Methodists,  and  others 
in  our  own  day,  they  have  endured  as  sheep  in  the 
hands  of  wolves  for  their  allegiance  to  the  truths  and 
practice  of  the  New  Testament.  The  simplicity  of  their 
character,  their  inoffensive  disposition, their  patient  pro- 
secution of  duty  in  the  face  of  danger  and  discourage- 
ment, have  indeed  built  up  for  the  Brethren  an  everlast- 
ing name.  Their  history  reaches  back  into  very  early 
days,  and  with  the  Waldenses  they  may  be  entitled  to 
the  honour  of  having  kept  the  faith  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe  in  spite  of  pagan  and  popish  persecution. 
Perhaps  they  may  claim  to  be  the  oldest  Protestant 
Church  in  existence,  and  before  Huss  began  his  refor- 
mation, they  had  shined  as  a  light  in  the  dense  darkness 
of  ignorance  and  superstition.    Some  of  his  disciples, 


THE  MORAVIANS  COME. 


77 


associated  by  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ  and  detestation 
of  Romish  error,  banded  themselves  together  on  the 
simple  basis  of  Christian  brotherhood,  taking  as  they 
said,  "  the  Bible  as  their  creed,  and  the  law  of  Christ 
as  their  rule."  But  that  fear  of  persecution  which  con- 
tinually scatters  the  elect,  drove  the  little  band  of 
believers  from  their  Moravian  fields,  and  they  gladly 
found  refuge  in  Poland,  where  Amos  Comenius  was 
ordained  their  bishop. 

Such  a  quiet,  harmless,  and  law-abiding  people 
should  have  been  better  understood  and  appreciated, 
but  they  were  driven  from  place  to  place  like  danger- 
ous conspirators,  and  their  continual  sufferings  were 
the  direct  result  of  that  relentless  hatred  of  religious 
light  and  freedom  which  stains  the  record  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Before  the  voice  of  Luther  had 
thundered  through  that  corrupt  Church,  these  simple 
disciples  of  a  common  Lord  were  witnessing  for  the 
truth  in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  and  gladly  suffer- 
ing the  spoiling  of  their  goods  and  imprisonment  of 
their  persons  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
Gospel.  Dr.  Brown  has  summed  up  their  early  history 
admirably. 

"After  a  variety  of  revolutions  in  their  external 
circumstances,  the  Churches  of  Bohemia  obtained, 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  an  edict 
from  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  granting  them  a 
toleration  of  their  religion,  and  ratifying  that  import- 
ant privilege  under  the  imperial  sanction.  But  this 
was  only  like  the  still  calm  which  often  precedes  a 
storm.  In  1672  an  attempt  was  made  by  Government 
to  force  on  them  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
Being  at  length  driven  to  despair  by  multiplied  and 


ll 


1  is 


\  m 


78 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


incessant  oppressions,  they  rose  in  a  mass  to  defend 
their  religious  liberties,  but  after  the  unfortunate 
battle  of  Prague,  in  1620,  they  were  either  compelled 
to  submit  to  the  conqueror  or  were  driven  into  exile 
with  the  Elector  Palatine,  whom  they  had  chosen  for 
their  king.  Numbers  of  them,  indeed,  were  afterwards 
allowed  by  the  promise  of  pardon  to  return  to  their 
country,  but  notwithstanding  this  promise  some  of 
them  were  perfidiously  condemned  to  perpetual 
imprisonment,  and  others  to  ignominious  death.  In 
one  day  no  fewer  than  seven-and-thirty  of  the  principal 
lords  and  defenders  of  the  Bohemian  faith  were 
beheaded  on  the  scaffold." 

The  flames  of  persecution  being  once  kindled 
spread  over  the  whole  country  and  committed 
terrible  devastation  among  the  miserable  inhabitants. 
By  plunderings,  by  torturing,  by  executions,  the 
people  were  driven  to  the  utmost  extremities,  and 
many  of  them  either  renounced  their  religion  or  fled 
the  kingdom,  leaving  the  whole  of  their  property 
behind  them.  But  as  these  violent  measures,  instead 
of  reconciling  the  natives  to  the  Church  of  Rome, 
threatened  to  depopulate  the  country,  the  ministers 
',/ere  now  banished  from  Prague  and  the  rest  of  the 
kingdom,  in  the  hope  that  the  people,  being  deprived 
of  their  spiritual  guides,  would  submit  the  more 
readily  to  the  impositions  of  the  Catholic  priests. 
Many  of  the  exiles,  however,  hid  themselves  in  caves 
and  in  mountains,  and  from  these  fortresses  visited 
their  desolate  congregations ;  but  being  detected  in 
these  labours  of  love  some  of  them  were  put  to 
death,  and  others  finally  expelled  the  kingdom. 
A  part  of  the  nobility,  hovirever,  still  remained  stead- 


f. 


THE  MORAVIANS  COME. 


79 


fast  to  their  ancient  faith,  and  encouraged  the  people 
with  the  hope  of  regaining  their  liberties,  but  after 
having  been  drained  of  most  of  their  wealth  and 
stripped  of  their  estates,  they  were  banished  the 
kingdom  in  1627.  Hundreds  of  noble  and  respectable 
families  now  took  refuge  in  neighbouring  countries, 
and  though  the  common  people  were  carefully 
watched  to  prevent  their  emigration,  yet  thousands 
of  them  also  fled  into  exile  from  the  tyranny  of 
their  oppressors.  Many  of  these  went  into  Silesia, 
still  greater  numbers  retired  into  Prussia  and  Poland, 
but  most  of  them  escaped  into  Saxony  and  Upper 
Lusatia,  where  from  a  variety  of  causes  they  were 
soon  lost  among  the  general  mass  of  the  inhabitants  ; 
and  though  some  of  them  formed  particular  con- 
gregations and  even  founded  new  villages,  yet  their 
posterity  degenerated  from  the  virtues  of  their 
ancestors  and  conformed  to  the  manners  of  the 
people  around  them  ;  only  a  small  number  continued 
steadfast  in  their  ancient  faith. 

Thus  fiercely  the  fury  of  persecution  burned  against 
the  Moravians,  and  the  bones  of  the  saints  once 
more  whitened  the  mountains,  while  the  cries  of  the 
oppressed  rose  up  to  the  throne  of  God.  For  a 
time  everything  seemed  against  them,  and  a  darkness 
of  Egyptian  gloom  covered  the  sky  of  their  future. 
Was  God's  arm  shortened  that  it  could  not  save 
His  own?  Like  the  hunted  Waldenses  in  their 
Swiss  valleys,  like  the  brave  Covenanters  on  their 
Scottish  heather,  these  witnesses,  in  diminishing 
numbers  but  unquenchable  fidelity,  held  on.  Rome, 
the  abomination  of  desolation,  defiling  the  holy  place 
of  religious  freedom,  once  more  played  her  game  too 


1:  i 
'  1 


8o 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


well,  and  the  scattered  disciples  spread  out  to  a  wider 
sphere.  Then  leaders  and  teachers  felt  instinctively 
that  God  was  going  to  lead  them  forth  by  some  way 
at  present  hid  from  their  eyes,  and  they  prayed  and 
watched  for  the  open  door  of  deliverance. 

The  grand  old  patriarch,  George  Jacshkc,  hearing 
the  footfall  of  that  reaper  whom  we  call  death  by  the 
door  of  his  chamber,  gathered  his  children  and  grand- 
children about  his  bed.  God  had  given  to  him  in  his 
old  age  a  little  Benjamin,  and  upon  the  head  of  this 
seven  years'  old  boy,  the  aged  man  laid  his  hand. 
He  besought  his  family  to  have  faith  in  God  and 
believe  that  He  would  still  deliver.  He  did  not 
disguise  the  fact  that  the  times  were  dark  and 
depressing. 

"  It  is  true,"  said  he,  "  our  liberty  is  gone  ;  most  of 
our  descendants  give  themselves  up  more  and  more 
to  a  worldly  mind  and  get  entangled  in  the  net  of 
Popery  —  yea,  it  would  almost  appear  as  if  the 
Brethren's  cause  was  annihilated.  But  you,  my  dear 
children,  will  live  to  see  a  great  deliverance  wrought 
on  behalf  of  the  remnant  of  our  flock,  yet,  whether  it  is 
to  take  place  here  in  Moravia,  or  whether  you  will  have 
to  quit  this  Babel,  I  know  not  of  a  certainty ;  this 
I  do  know,  that  the  time  for  it  is  not  far  distant,  and 
I  feel  inclined  to  believe  that  an  emigration  will  be 
undertaken  into  a  land  and  to  a  place  where  you 
may  serve  the  Lord  without  fear,  agreeably  to  His 
holy  Word.  Be  ready  against  that  time  whenever 
it  may  come,  and  beware  lest  you  be  the  last  or  ever 
tarry  behind;  remember  I  have  told  it  you  before- 
hand." 

As  the  old  saint  passed  away,  his  five  grandsons, 


THE   MORAVIANS  COMK. 


8l 


iver 

;ver 

lore- 

sons, 


the  brothers  Neisser,  took  his  words .  to  heart,  and 
vowed  that  they  would  faithfully  look  forward  to  and 
expedite  all  in  their  power  this  time  of  deliverance. 

In  the  year  1722,  as  is  now  well  known,  Count 
Zinzendorf,  a  pious  nobleman,  whose  heart  had 
been  touched  by  the  sufferings  of  these  people,  offered 
them  an  asylum  on  his  estate  in  Upper  Lusatia. 
The  mandate  to  help  the  saints  seemed  to  have  come 
direct  from  God  to  this  noble-hearted  Christian,  and 
he  entered  into  the  details  of  this  immigration  of  the 
Moravians  into  his  territory  with  all  the  zeal  and 
enthusiasm  it  demanded.  He  rose  early  one  morning 
and  went  forth  praying  that  God  would  show  him  the 
spot  where  the  settlers  should  come.  "  I  represented 
in  prayer,  and  with  many  tears  to  God,"  said  he,  "  the 
distress  and  desire  of  these  people,  and  entreated  Him 
to  let  His  hand  be  with  me  and  prevent  the  execution 
of  any  plan  if  it  were  not  pleasing  in  His  eyes,  adding 
the  following  declaration  to  my  petitions,  In  this 
place  I  will  build  in  Thy  name  the  fit  house." 

The  hill,  upon  the  side  of  which  the  new  settlement 
was  to  be  built,  looked  bare  and  desert-like  enough  to 
the  pioneers  of  the  Exodus.  "  Where  shall  we  find 
bread  in  this  wilderness?"  said  Augustin  Nei.sser's 
wife.  "  If  ye  will  believe,  you  shall  see  the  glory  of 
God  in  this  place,"  was  the  reply. 

Christian  David,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  exiles, 
struck  his  axe  into  a  tree,  exclaiming,  "  Here  the 
sparrow  hath  found  an  house,  and  the  swallow  a 
nest  for  herself,  even  thine  altars,  O  Lord  of 
Hosts." 

The  little  knot  of  persecuted  ones  sang  together 
their  hymn  of  exile  : — 


¥'. 


82  AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 

"  Blest  is  that  day,  when  quitting  home, 
Far  from  my  country  I  must  roam, 

Without  a  guide,  a  friend — 
For  God  Himself  ^'"^  be  my  guide, 
His  angel-guard  for  me  provide  ; 

He  can  His  own  defend  ; 
And  He  '11  appoint  for  me  a  spot, 
Where  all  my  fears  and  cares  forgot, 

I  shall  enjoy  sweet  rest ; 
As  pants  the  hart  for  cooling  brooks, 
My  soul  with  ardent  longing  looks 

T'wards  God,  my  Refuge  blest." 

They  gathered  together  in  straggling  companies, 
for  the  priestly  Pharaoh  with  his  hardened  heart 
would  not  let  God's  people  go.  Hampered  with 
their  fetters,  watched  with  cat-like  vigilance  by  their 
oppressors,  robbed  on  the  road,  and  often  ending 
their  journey  in  beggary,  they  moved  onwards  to 
their  promised  land.  There  in  due  time  they  founded 
the  colony  of  Herrnhut,  or  the  Watch  of  the  Lord. 
Count  Zinzendorf,  to  whom  under  God  they  owed 
everything,  was  consecrated  their  bishop  and  head, 
and  the  number  over  which  he  had  authority  increased 
to  600  souls.  For  several  years  they  continued  under 
specially  favourable  circumstances  to  take  advantage 
of  their  new  and  restful  home.  But  the  sunshine  of 
prosperity  is  often,  too  often,  the  harbinger  of  trouble 
and  spiritual  decline.  They  began  to  dispute  with 
each  other  on  theological  points  of  difference,  and  it 
seemed  as  though  Herrnhut  would,  indeed,  degenerate 
into  a  confusion  of  jarring  sects.  A  strict  statement 
of  belief  was  drawn  up,  and  a  serious  secession,  in 
which  many  of  the  best  and  most  influential  of  the 
Brethren  were  implicated,  seemed  inevitable.  They, 
however,  all  with  one  consent  gave  themselves  to 


V 


% 


THE  MORAVIANS  COME. 


83 


I" 


earnest  prayer.  For  days  and  weeks  the  supplica- 
tions continued,  then  in  answer  thereto,  God  opened 
the  windows  of  heaven  and  gave  a  blessing  such 
as  is  rarely  known  in  the  history  of  His  people. 
Extraordinary  results  attended  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  Not  only  were  their  halls  crowded,  but 
hundreds  fell  down  in  penitence,  and  as  many  more 
rose  up  to  testify  to  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 


HERRNHUT  ;  OR,  THE   WATCH   OF  THE   LORD. 


their  hearts ;  and  the  direct  result  of  this  remark- 
able revival  was  a  new  and  absorbing  desire  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  The  missionary  spirit, 
which  is  the  principal  characteristic  of  the  Moravian 
Brethren,  began  then  and  there. 

In  173 1,  Count  Zinzendorf  attended  the  corona- 
tion of  Christian  VI.  at  Copenhagen,  and  while  there 
witnessed  the  baptism  of  the  Greenland  boys  who 
had   been  sent  home   from   Mr.  Egede.      Then   he 


£■    li 


V 

I 


84 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


heard,  with  much  regret,  that  the  Government  had 
determined  to  relinquish  their  support  of  that  mis- 
sion. Meanwhile,  there  was  great  excitement  at 
Herrnhut.  A  negro,  named  Anthony,  spoke  openly 
of  the  spiritual  darkness  of  the  slaves  in  the  island 
of  St.  Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies,  and  especially  of 
his  sister  there,  who  had  begged  him  to  send  some 
one  who  would  teach  her  about  Christ.  Two  of  the 
Brethren,  Leonhard  Dober  and  Tobias  Leupold, 
immediately  volunteered  to  allow  themselves  to  be  sold 
as  slaves,  to  enable  them  to  labour  amongst  these  poor 
lost  ones.  The  quickened  pulse  of  missionary  energy 
produced  a  holy  ambition  to  go  elsewhere  with  the 
tidings  of  the  Gospel,  and  on  the  return  of  Count 
Zinzendorf  with  news  of  the  Greenland  Mission,  it 
was  at  once  decided  to  send  men  thither. 

Christian  Stach  and  his  brother,  Matthew  Stach, 
volunteered  to  go,  and  Christian  David,  the  first 
ordained  elder  at  Herrnhut,  offered  to  accompany 
them.  They  at  once  visited  the  king,  and  laid  their 
plans  before  him,  and  found  especially  a  good  friend 
in  his  Lord  of  the  Bedchamber,  Count  Pless.  He 
not  only  gave  every  advantage  to  the  new  mission- 
aries, but  wrote  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Egede 
with  his  own  hand.  The  ships  were  duly  fitted  with 
every  appliance  for  trade  and  other  work  of  arranging 
the  settlement ;  many  of  Count  Pless's  friends  also 
came  forward  with  pecuniary  help  and  influential 
support.  One  day  he  asked  them  how  they  pro- 
posed to  live  in  Greenland.  "  We  intend,"  they 
replied,  "  to  build  a  house,  and  to  cultivate  the  land 
by  the  labour  of  our  hands,  that  we  may  not  be  bur- 
densome to  any."    To  this  he  objected,  as  there  was 


I- 


•J 


I 


THE  MORAVIANS  COME. 


85 


1- 


& 


i 


no  wood  in  the  country  to  build  with.  "  Then,"  they 
replied,  "  we  will  dig  into  the  earth  and  lodge  there." 
Pless  was  so  struck  by  their  self-denial  that  he 
immediately  gave  them  fifty  dollars,  and  purchased 
wood  for  them  to  take  to  Greenland. 

How  Matthew  Stach  received  his  call  to  go  thither 
shall  be  told  in  his  own  words. 

"  When  T  heard  the  first  account  of  Greenland  it 
excited  a  desire  in  me  to  go  thither  ;  yet,  when  I 
reflected  on  my  own  incapacity  and  inexperience 
(for  I  had  been  scarce  two  years  in  Herrnhut),  I 
could  not  venture  to  disclose  it ;  but  when  the  written 
proposal  of  the  two  Brethren  to  go  to  St.  Thomas  was 
read  publicly  it  stirred  me  up  to  it  afresh  I  was  then 
at  work  with  Frederic  Boehnish  on  the  riew  burying- 
ground,  called  the  Hutberg.  He  was  the  first  person 
I  acquainted  with  what  passed  in  rny  mind,  and  I 
found  that  he  had  been  actuated  on  the  same  occa- 
sion with  the  same  desire  to  promote  the  salvation  of 
the  heathen.  We  conversed  with  simplicity  about  it, 
and  pciceived  we  had  the  greatest  inclination  to  go 
to  Greenland  ;  but  we  knew  not  whether  we  ought  to 
look  upon  the  propension  that  had  taken  place  in  us 
as  an  impulse  wrought  by  God,  or  whether  we  should 
wait  till  a  call  was  given  us.  But  as  we  were  both  of 
one  mind,  and  confidently  believed  that  our  Saviour's 
promise  would  be  verified  to  us, '  If  two  of  you  shall 
agree  on  earth,  etc, ; '  therefore  we  retired  to  the  wood 
just  at  hand,  and  kneeled  down  before  Him,  and 
begged  Him  to  clear  up  our  minds  on  this  important 
affair,  and  to  lead  us  in  the  right  way.  Upon  this 
our  hearts  were  filled  with  an  uncommon  joy,  and 
we  omitted  no  longer  to  lay  our  mind  before  the  con- 


'  kj: 


iit 

i: 

ML 


}[       ''    m 


I 

1 


m 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


gregation  in  writing,  with  perfect  resignation  which 
tribe  of  heathens  our  call  should  be  to,  though  we  felt 
the  strongest  tendency  to  the  Greenlanders.  The 
letter  was  read  in  a  public  meeting,  and  was  heard 
with  joy  in  the  general.  Yet  some  expressed  their 
surprise  that  it  had  such  a  great  resemblance  to  the 
writing  of  the  two  first-mentioned  Brethren,  and  a  few 
even  thought  that  we  had  compared  notes  with  them, 
or  would  mimic  them.  Very  like  this  was  the  reason 
that  for  a  long  time  we  neither  received  an  answer, 
nor  were  spoken  to  about  it  by  the  labourers  of  the 
congregation.  Only  one  of  them  said  something  to 
me  occasionally  which  might  have  left  me  but  little 
hope.  Yet  we  were  not  frightened  out  of  it  by  this, 
nor  with  the  representations  of  the  difficu't  voyage  to 
and  manner  of  living  in  Greenland,  which  we  heard 
enough  of  by-and-by  ;  but  we  waited  with  tranquillity 
to  see  whether  our  offer  would  be  accepted  or  rejected. 
After  a  considerable  time,  the  Count  Zinzendorf  sent 
for  us,  and  asked  us  if  we  were  still  of  the  same  mind, 
and  when  we  answered  him,  *  Yes,'  and  assured  him 
that  we  should  like  to  go  to  Greenland,  he  advised  us 
to  consider  over  more  the  difficulty  of  our  subsistence 
there ;  but  added  at  the  close  that  if  we  would  venture 
upon  it  in  confidence  on  our  Saviour,  we  might  make 
ready  for  the  journey  with  his  and  the  congregation's 
blessing.  We  expected  the  time  of  our  being  dis- 
patched with  longing,  and  kept  working  on  in  our 
outward  calling.  But  another  year  passed  before  we 
were  dispatched.  In  the  meantime,  as  Frederick 
Boehnish  was  gone  another  long  journey.  Christian 
David  got  a  desire  to  go  with  me  to  Greenland. 
Our  dismission  did  not  last  long ;  only  the  last  two 


r^' 


I" 


THE   MORAVIANS  COME. 


87 


days  the  Count  had  some  blessed  interviews  with  me, 
and  gave  me  some  instructions  about  the  preservation 
of  my  body  and  soul  from  evil,  which  were  an  abiding 
blessing  to  me." 

Thus  it  came  about  that  the  ship  containing  those 
good  men  anchored  off  the  colony  of  Mr.  Egede,  and 
henceforth  their  fortunes  will  be  intertwined  with  his 
in  dealing  with  the  Greenland  people. 


I  ii 


I 


it 


EGEDE  JOURNEYING   IN   A   UMIAK,   OR   WOMAN  S   IJOAT, 


CHAPTER   VII. 

PESTILENCE  AND   PATIENCE. 

His  course  was  glorious  as  the  summer's  sun 
When  travelling  in  the  greatness  of  his  might, 

A  burning  and  a  shining  light  he  shone, 
Then  set  to  rise  in  everlasting  light. 

THE  good  ship  Caritas  (the  Greek  for  Charity, 
which  was  an  appropriate  name  for  such  an 
enterprise),  on  the  loth  of  April,  1733,  .sailed 
from  Copenhagen  with  its  first  instalment  of 
Moravian  missionaries  for  the  Greenland  field.  When 
they  separated  from  their  friends  it  was  with  many 
88 


ty, 

an 
cd 
of 
en 

ny 


PESTILENCE   AND   PATIENCE. 


89 


good  wishes  and  prayers,  and  the  new  enthusiasm 
for  foreign  missions  which  was  beating  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Brethren  made  all  feel  that  this  little  freight  of 
souls,  bearing  the  message  of  Divine  love,  was  but  the 
beginning  of  great  things  for  Greenland  and  the 
world. 

It  had  been  the  custom  for  some  years  in  the  little 
colony  of  Herrnhut,  before  the  commencement  of 
every  year,  to  compile  a  little  book  with  a  text  of 
holy  Scripture  and  verse  for  every  day,  and  this 
became  not  only  the  portion  for  private  meditation, 
but  took  precedence  in  the  worship  of  the  public 
assembly.  The  verse  for  the  loth  of  April  was  most 
appropriate,  being  Heb.  xi.  i,  "  Faith  is  the  substance 
of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen." 

"  We  view  him  where  no  eye  can  see, 
With  faith's  perspective  steadfastly." 

Such  was  the  encouragement  these  witnesses  had,  as, 
.setting  sail,  they  left  home  and  friends  behind  to 
preach  the  unsearchable  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
heathen  afar  off. 

For  sometime  they  had  fair  weather,  and  passed 
our  own  Shetland  Isles  ;  but  on  the  6th  of  May  a 
violent  storm  broke  out,  the  ice  swept  dangerously 
over  the  sea,  and  they  were  driven  back  a  consider- 
able way.  To  make  matters  worse  a  total  eclipse  of 
the  sun  took  place,  so  that  in  the  darkness  they  drifted 
thoy  knew  not  wl^'ther.  In  due  time,  however,  they 
Ciucred  the  mout;  -f  Balls  River,  and  saw  the  shore  ' 
cf  Gs  :;.:3nk.rid  for  the  first  time  ;  and  again  taking  to 
tiieir  httle  book  for  the  text  of  comfort  and  guidance, 
tluty  read,  "  The  peace  of  God,  which   passeth   all 


1% 


4, 


90 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


understanding,  shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds 
through  Christ  Jesus "  (Phil.  iv.  7).  "  Let  all  our 
senses  be  composed  and  quiet,"  was  the  comment 
upon  this  helpful  text.  With  these  words  in  their 
hearts,  they  prepared  to  land,  and  to  meet  the  men 
whom  in  Christ's  name  they  came  to  save. 

They  hastened  to  Mr.  Egede,  and  presented  their 
letters  of  introduction,  and  the  welcome  they  re- 
ceived from  this  good  man  who  had  been  the  pioneer 
was  warm  and  affectionate.  Finding  a  place  where 
they  might  fix  their  settlement,  they  knelt  down  and 
solemnly  consecrated  that  spot  of  earth  and  them- 
selves to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  extension  of  His 
kingdom.  Then  they  built  their  house  of  stone  and 
earth,  and  purchased  an  old  boat  from  the  captain  of 
the  ship  for  their  fishing  expeditions.  Before  the 
ship  sailed,  they  sat  in  their  hut  and  wrote  letters  to 
their  friends  at  home,  not  knowing  whether  it  might 
not  be  the  last  as  well  as  the  first  time  they  would 
be  able  to  write  from  their  new  home.  Some  of 
these  letters  still  remain,  and,  as  giving  an  insight 
into  the  character  and  simple  faith  of  these  people, 
an  extract  deserves  to  be  placed  upon  record  here. 
Says  one : — 

*'  You  may  now  very  well  address  that  saying  to 

us — 

" '  Should  a  man  ever  lose  his  road, 
Let  him  ne'er  lose  his  faith  in  God.' 

Yes,  here  in  truth  the  way  is  barred  up.  We  retain 
that  for  our  daily  lesson,  *  Let  all  our  senses  be  com- 
posed and  quiet*  As  to  our  persons,  we  are  very 
happy  ;  but  our  desire  is  to  win  souls,  and  we  cannot 
gratify  it  yet.      But  by  God's  grace  we  will   not 


PESTILENCE  AND  PATIENCE. 


91 


despond,  but  keep  the  Lord's  watch.  When  He 
puts  Himself  in  motion,  we  will  move  on  with  Him, 
and  will  not  swerve  from  His  presence.  Let  but  the 
time  for  the  heathen  come,  and  the  darkness  in 
Greenland  must  give  way  to  the  light ;  the  frigid 
zone  itself  must  kindle  into  a  flame,  and  the  ice-cold 
hearts  of  the  people  must  burn  and  melt.  Because 
we  know  our  way  is  upright  before  the  Lord,  there- 
fore our  hearts  are  not  dejected,  but  we  live  in  cheer- 
fulness and  joy. 

'*  We  are  open  and  manifest  before  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord.  'Tis  true  all  men  count  us  fools,  especially 
those  who  have  been  long  in  this  country,  and  know 
this  people ;  but  still  we  rejoice  and  think  when  the 
Breaker  is  come  up  before  us  there  must  be  room  to 
tread  and  follow,  though  the  appearance  may  be  so 
adverse.  We  hope  to  remain  always  in  this  mind  ; 
and  even  if  we  should  effect  nothing  in  Greenland, 
we  will  render  Him  the  honour  due  unto  His  name, 
though  it  should  be  for  nothing  else  but  that  we  are 
humbled  and  made  low  in  our  own  eyes.  But  Jesus, 
whose  heart  is  replete  with  faithful  love  towards  us 
and  the  pour  heathen,  knows  all  our  ways,  and  knew 
them  before  we  were  born.  Can  any  honour  redound 
from  us  to  Him  ?  Our  substance,  life,  and  blood  are 
at  his  service.  Through  His  death  He  has  restored 
life  to  us,  has  absolved  us  from  our  sins,  reconciled  us 
with  Himself,  and  has  gathered  a  people  that  is  His 
property  to  show  forth  His  praises.  Oh,  that  the  death 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  may  bring  all  men  to  life,  and  that 
all  might  follow  this  faithful  Shepherd  !  " 

Adversity  came  to  them  very  soon ;  they  found 
that  it  was  difficult  to  catch  fish,  and  in  a  storm  they 


ii  ''I 

1  ;il 


{  i 


92 


AMTT    GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


I 


r 
I 


lost  tl  'ir  boat.  The  Greenlanders,  too,  were  very  shy 
of  them  ;  would  not,  indeed,  talk  to  them  on  any  sub- 
ject, and  to  every  entreaty  gave  the  same  answer — 
that  they  wanted  to  know  when  they  would  go  back 
again  Mr.  Egede  gave  them  every  assistance  as 
regards  the  language ;  but  the  prospect  seemed  so 
unfruitful  that  it  appeared  as  if  their  use  of  it  to  any 
purpose  was  very  remote. 

Then  came  an  awful  and  unlooked-for  visitation, 
which  proved;  jjowever,  a  hand  to  break  down  the 
barrier  between  them  and  the  natives.  Two  Green- 
land children  had  been  sent  by  Mr.  Egede  to  Europe, 
but  their  health  being  precarious,  they  had  been  sent 
back  for  a  time  to  their  native  country.  One  of  them, 
a  girl,  died  on  the  voyage  ;  but  the  boy,  to  all  appear- 
ance in  good  health,  reached  Greenland,  and  went  to 
visit  his  friends.  There  L  fell  ill,  and  it  was  soon 
clear  that  he  had  brought  home  the  fearful  disease  of 
small-pox.  Directly  Mr.  Egede  heard  of  it,  and  had 
seen  the  boy,  he  sent  special  messengers  to  warn  the 
people  against  mingling  with  the  infected  persons ; 
but  this  they  disregarded,  and  so  the  epidemic  spread. 
Wholly  unacquainted  with  the  disease,  they  soon  be- 
came mad  with  pain  and  horror ;  many  killed  them- 
selves, either  with  their  knives,  or  by  quenching  their 
fever  and  their  life  in  wild  plunging  into  the  cold 
sea.  For  a  time  the  effect  upon  them  ^^as  only  to 
harden  their  hearts.     Says  their  chronicb 

"  One  man,  whose  son  had  died,  stab^  's  wife's 

sister,  in  the  mad  presumption  that  she  had  bewitched 
him  to  death.  Nay,  the  Europeans  had  reason  to 
fear  an  assault  (especially  as  a  shallop,  gone  abroad 
to  trade,  stayed  out  beyond  its  time),  because  the 


r. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


IAS  121    |2.5 

■so  "^"     mUM 

Ui  IM   1 2.2 
^   U£    12.0 


1.8 


11.25  III  1.4  11.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporalion 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MS80 

(716)872-4503 


% 


%" 


^ 

^ 


6^ 


PESTILENCE  AND  PATIENCE. 


95 


Greenlanders  accused  them  as  the  cause  of  this  pest, 
and  they  were  confirmed  in  it  by  the  dream  of  an  old 
woman,  that  the  Greenlander,  Charles,  who  came  back 
from  Copenhagen,  would  murder  all  his  country- 
people.  A  Greenlander  came  from  a  quite  healthy 
place  to  visit  his  sister  at  the  colony  ;  before  he  set 
foot  on  shore  he  thought  he  saw  her  apparition, 
which  so  frightened  him  that  he  rowed  back,  fell 
sick  directly,  and  infected  the  people  where  he  dwelt." 

Though  the  natives  were  involved  in  so  much  misery, 
and  though  death  stared  them  in  the  face,  they  con- 
tinued in  their  usual  way  of  inattention  and  obduracy. 
No  reflection  and  no  caution  was  to  be  thought  of, 
much  less  any  concern  about  the  present  or  future  con- 
dition of  their  souls.  Nay,  the  living  did  not  bewail, 
as  otherwise  usual,  the  death  of  their  nearest  relations  ; 
the  old  people,  indeed,  cried  to  God  in  their  distress 
as  well  as  they  knew  how ;  but  when,  notwithstand- 
ing, the  evil  grew  worse,  they  uttered  impatient,  de- 
sponding, very  blasphemous  speeches,  would  hear  of 
no  patience  or  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  nor 
accept  any  admonition  to  commit  themselves  to  the 
faithful  Shepherd,  but  died  away  in  their  unbelief. 

One  may  easily  imagine  how  Mr.  Egede  felt  in 
this  woful  case.  He  did  not  sit  still,  but  went  con- 
tinually about  everywhere,  sometimes  alone,  and 
sometimes  in  the  company  of  the  Brethren,  or  sent 
his  son  to  instruct  and  comfort  the  poor  people,  and 
to  prepare  them  for  death.  They  found  in  most 
places  nothing  but  empty  and  depopulated  houses 
and  unburied  dead,  some  within,  and  some  without 
the  house,  lying  in  the  snow,  which  they  covered  with 
stones.     In  one  island  they  found  only  one  girl  ill. 


)  t 


96 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


and  her  three  little  brothers.  The  father,  having  first 
buried  all  the  people  in  that  place,  laid  himself  and 
his  smallest  sick  child  in  a  grave  raised  with  stones, 
and  ordered  the  girl  to  cover  him  with  skins  and 
stones,  that  he  might  not  be  devoured  by  the  foxes 
and  ravens  ;  then  she  and  the  rest  of  the  children  were 
to  live  on  a  couple  of  seals  and  some  dried  herrings 
that  were  left  till  they  could  get  to  the  Europeans. 
Accordingly,  Mr.  Egede  sent  for  them  to  his  colony. 
He  lodged  all  the  sick  that  fled  to  him,  and  the 
Brethern  followed  his  example.  They  laid  as  many 
in  their  own  rooms  and  sleeping  chambers  as  they 
would  contain,  and  attended  and  nursed  them  as 
well  as  they  could,  although  the  insufferable  stench 
of  the  sick  and  dying  affected  their  own  health  very 
much.  Many  a  one  was  touched  with  a  grateful 
impression  by  such  evident  proofs  of  love,  which  were 
more  than  they  ever  expected  even  from  their  own 
countrymen,  and  one  man,  who  had  a!  "^ys  derided 
them,  said  to  the  minister  before  hi.  id,  "Thou 
hast  done  for  us  what  our  own  people  would  not  do, 
for  thou  hast  fed  us  when  we  had  nothing  to  eat ; 
thou  hast  buried  our  dead,  who  would  else  have  been 
consumed  by  the  dogs,  foxes,  and  ravens  ;  thou  hast 
also  instructed  us  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  hast 
told  us  of  a  better  life." 

Surely  such  heroism  and  self-abnegation  deserved 
to  be  remembered.  These  noble  men,  infused  with 
the  love  of  their  Divine  Master,  went  about  as  He 
would  have  done  among  these  unhappy  sufferers 
doing  good.  The  soldier,  who  seeks  "  the  bubble 
reputation  at  the  cannon's  mouth,"  shows  a  courage 
inferior  to  theirs,  and  yet  for  him  is  triumphant  praise, 


PESTILENCE  AND  PATIENCE. 


97 


and  perchance  a  statue  in  bronze.  But  the  reward  of 
these  Moravians  is  in  Heaven. 

When  the  plague  was  stayed,  it  was  found  that  the 
country  was  to  a  large  extent  depopulated.  Only 
eight  had  survived  it  on  the  shores  of  Balls  River, 
and  Mr.  Egede  calculated  that  the  dead  were  not  less 
than  three  thousand.  The  traders  coming  on  the 
coast  some  months  afterwards  found  the  huts  empty, 
and  whole  villages  without  a  human  being.  The 
new  missionaries  had  now  little  room  for  encourage- 
ment. The  country  all  round  their  settlement  of  New 
Herrnhut,  as  they  had  called  it,  was  cleared  of 
inhabitants  by  the  ravages  of  this  disease,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  some  counselled  return.  To 
emphasise  this  advice,  they  found  themselves  upon 
the  brink  of  starvation,  for  their  own  fishing  had  so 
utterly  failed,  and  the  Greenlanders  would  sell  them 
nothing  except  at  exorbitant  prices.  Often  after 
exposure  of  days  to  the  waves,  they  were  compelled 
to  live  upon  the  seaweed,  and  this  brought  upon  them 
an  illness  which  for  the  time  deprived  them  of  the  use 
of  their  limbs.  Indeed,  had  it  not  been  for  the  kind- 
ness of  Mr.  Egede  and  his  devoted  wife  they  must 
have  perished.  This  help,  however,  was  necessarily 
growing  less,  as  their  own  settlement  of  Good  Hope 
was  threatened  with  famine,  and  supplies  were  running 
short.  What  should  they  do  ?  One  of  their  letters 
thus  describes  the  situation  in  which  they  found 
themselves  : — 

"  We  are  at  present  in  a  school  of  faith,  and  see 

not  the  least  prospect  before  us.     We  can  perceive  no 

trace  of  anything  good  among  the  heathens  ;  no,  not 

50  much  as  a  sigh,  and  the  poor  creatures  find  death 

G 


m 


.^,...  .J,,-. 


98 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


fi 


where  they  should  have  found  life.  As  for  us,  let  us 
look  where  we  will,  we  see  nothing  in  ourselves  but 
poverty  and  misery  without  and  within.  Without, 
we  find  not  the  bodily  strength  and  ability  requisite 
to  stand  it  out  in  this  land  ;  this  is  a  gift  to  be  yet 
bestowed  upon  us  from  the  hand  of  God.  At  present 
we  are  severely  handled  by  sickness,  though  we  believe 
that  our  constitutions  will  only  be  purged  and  sea- 
soned by  it,  that  we  may  be  able  to  endure  the  more 
in  the  service  of  the  Lord.  We  acknowledge  it  also 
as  a  peculiar  kind  Providence  that  our  sickness  was 
to  wait  till  we  removed  into  our  house.  Within, 
everything  that  could  spring  from  human  good-will, 
even  our  alacrity  to  learn  the  language,  is  fallen  away, 
nothing  but  what  grace  has  wrought  abides  by  us. 
.  .  .  What  gives  us  hope  is,  that  God  suffers  His 
children  to  pass  through  straits  to  the  work  in  view, 
and  our  joy  is  the  remembering  and  being  remembered 
by  the  many  children  of  God  in  Europe." 

In  their  dire  extremity  God  saved  them  from  the 
peril  of  death.  One  day,  when  exhausted  and  de- 
spairing, a  strange  Greenlandcr,  named  Ippagen, 
made  his  appearance,  having  come  forty  leagues 
from  the  south,  and  told  them  how  he  had  made  his 
way  thither  on  purpose  to  supply  them  with  food. 
It  came  out  that  in  one  of  their  excursions  some 
months  before  they  had  showed  some  kindness  to 
this  man  in  his  native  village,  and  he  had  gone  in 
search  of  them  now,  fearing  they  might  be  in  want. 

The  fourth  year  of  their  stay  had  just  been  entered 
upon  when  a  ship  was  sighted,  and  the  captain  had 
a  letter  from  a  friend  in  Amsterdam,  who  had  sent 

* 

them  a  cask  containing  several  stores  of  provisions. 


PESTILENCE  AND  PATIENCE. 


99 


This  they  felt  to  be  an  interposition  of  Providence, 
for  they  were  then  at  the  very  last  pinch  of  poverty, 
and  had  almost  given  up  hope  of  hearing  from  Europe 
after  a  silence  of  nearly  two  years. 

Patience  almost  more  than  human  was  required  in 
dealing  with  the  natives.  Although  exceedingly 
ignorant,  they  were  full  of  conceit  of  their  own  notions, 


NEW  HERRNHUT. 

{From  the  original  sketch  in  Crantz^s  "  History  of  Greenland") 

I.  The  Dwelling  and  Meeting-house.  II.  The  right  wing,  containing  the  School 
room,  Kitchen,  Bake-house,  and  Well.  III.  The  left  wing,  or  the  European  Pro- 
vision House  and  a  Place  for  Wood.  IV.  The  Garden.  V.  The  Brook.  VI.  The 
European  Boat-house.  VII.  Greenland  Houses.  VIII.  The  Greenland  Provision 
House.     IX.  The  I'urying-ground. 

and  ready  at  any  time  to  argue  the  point  with  the 
missionaries  when  the  way  of  salvation  was  explained 
to  them.  Sometimes  they  flippantly  replied  to  their 
inquiries  by  saying,  "  Oh  yes,  we  believe  it  all,"  but  it 
was  too  evident  that  such  a  belief  was  extremely 
superficial.     One  of  the  missionaries  attempted  on  a 


lOO 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


i!i 


i  '■ 


certain  occasion  to  explain  to  a  crowd  of  Esquimaux 
the  history  of  the  creation,  and  continued  until  the 
age  of  Abraham  was  reached,  to  which  they  all  nodded 
assent  as  usual.  "  We  believe  it  perfectly,"  they  said. 
But  when  the  missionary  had  finished  speaking  they 
began  to  recite  to  him  the  ridiculous  fables  and 
legends  of  their  gods  and  magicians,  and  asked  him 
whether  he  believed  all  that.  When  he  said  no,  giving 
as  an  argument  that  it  was  inconsistent  with  reason 
and  common  sense,  they  had  their  answer  ready  :  "  If 
thou  wilt  not  believe  us  upon  our  words,  thou  must 
not  desire  us  to  believe  what  we  cannot  comprehend 
upon  thy  word." 

So  little  fruit  indeed  was  seen  of  their  work,  that 
these  faithful  men  began  to  ask  themselves  whether 
after  all  they  were  called  to  the  work.  They  shrunk 
from  no  danger  or  privation,  having  indeed  endured 
as  much  as  flesh  and  blood  could  stand  hitherto,  but 
their  love  for  the  souls  of  these  heathens  prompted  the 
inquiry  whether  it  was  not  possible  that  God  had 
others  who  could  become  more  successful  than  they. 
To  this  end  they  held  in  their  humble  dwellings  what 
they  called  their  hours  of  examination,  between  seven 
and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  "  when  each  of  them 
should,  as  he  should  be  inclined,  and  without  restraint, 
yet  uprightly  as  before  the  eyes  of  God,  and  according 
to  the  best  of  his  knowledge,  declare  what  had  passed 
in  his  soul  throughout  the  day,  what  had  come  into 
his  mind  to  ask  in  prayer  for  himself,  for  his  brethren, 
for  all  the  children  of  God  in  Christendom,  and  for 
these  heathens,  and  finally  what  hindrances  or  offences 
had  occurred  to  him  in  himself  or  from  others.  They 
would  at  the  same  time   remind,  and  if  necessary, 


PESTILENCE  AND  PATIENCE. 


lOI 


admonish  and  reprove  one  another,  would  take  this 
from  each  other  in  love  and  amend,  and  then  would 
commit  their  wants  to  the  Lord  in  fellowship,  and 
thus  help  to  bear  one  another's  burdens.  This  little 
weekly  gathering  became  a  sort  of  class-meeting,  and 
in  the  midst  of  their  trials  and  discouragements,  they 
found  strength  and  hope  in  fellowship  one  with 
another.  Very  seriously  they  drew  up  a  Covenant, 
and  after  weeks  of  prayer  and  meditation  thereon, 
they  signed  their  names  and  bound  themselves  as 
follows : — 

"  I.  We  will  never  forget  that  in  a  confidence  resting 
upon  God  our  Saviour,  in  whom  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  be  blessed,  we  came  hither,  not  on  'lit^ 
principle  of  seeing  but  believing. 

"  II.  The  knowledge  of  Christ,  how  He  efifected  on 
His  Cross  the  purification  of  our  sins  through  His 
blood,  and  is  the  cause  and  source  of  eternal  salvation 
to  all  them  that  believe,  shall  be  the  principal  doctrine 
among  us,  which  we  will  confirm  by  our  word  and 
Wfilk,  according  to  the  ability  God  shall  be  pleased  to 
give  us ;  and  by  this  we  will  endeavour  to  bring  the 
heathen  to  the  obedience  of  faith. 

"III.  We  will  diligently  endeavour  to  learn  the 
language,  in  love,  patience,  and  hope. 

"  IV.  We  will  own  and  value  the  grace  of  each  other, 
in  honour  prefer  one  another,  and  be  subject  to  each 
other  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 

"V.  We  will  steadfastly  maintain  brotherly  discipline, 
admonition,  and  correction,  according  to  the  rule  of 
Christ,  and  will  withdraw  from  any  one  who  doth  not 
walk  according  to  the  purity  of  the  Gospel,  and  will 
exclude  him  so  long  from  the  kiss  of  love  and  peace 


i! 


102 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


(which  we  do  now  introduce  as  a  token  of  our  true 
fellowship)  till  he  humbles  himself  before  God  and  the 
brethren. 

"  VI.  We  will  do  our  outward  labour  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  and  if  any  one  is  negligent  therein,  we  will 
admonish  him. 

"VII.  Yet  we  will  not  be  anxious  and  say,  'What 
shall  we  eat  and  what  shall  we  drink,  and  wherewith- 
all  shall  we  be  clothed  ? '  but  cast  our  care  upon  Him 
who  feeds  the  sparrows  and  clothes  the  flowers  of  the 
field.  Nevertheless,  we  will  at  the  same  time  take 
notice  of  the  word  of  the  Lord,  '  In  the  sweat  of  thy 
face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,'  and  that  of  the  Apostle, 
Acts  XX.  34, '  You  yourselves  know  that  these  hands 
have  ministered  unto  my  necessities,  and  to  them  that 
were  with  me,'  and  again,  *  I  have  shown  you  all 
things,  how  that  so  labouring  ye  ought  to  support  the 
weak.'  Upon  this  they  received  the  Holy  Sacrament, 
by  which  their  hearts  were  strengthened  in  a  particular 
manner  in  faith  and  love,  and  bound  together  in  their 
common  call." 

How  much  they  needed  this  consecration  and 
increase  of  faith  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
with  starvation  staring  them  in  the  face,  they  were 
continually  being  menaced  by  the  hostile  Greenlanders, 
who  could  not  understand  their  patience,  and  mocked 
contemptuously  at  their  willingness  to  suffer.  "  Your 
countrymen,"  said  they, "  are  good-for-nothing  people ; 
be  sure  they  have  sent  you  nothing,  and  you  will  not 
act  wisely  if  you  do  not  go  back  again." 

Sometimes  threatened  with  death  if  they  did  not 
go,  at  other  times  robbed  and  scoffed  at  because  they 
stayed,  the  mettle  of  their  spirit  was  sorely  tried. 


'I 

i 


iijl 


PESTILKNCE    AND    PATIKNCE. 


105 


But  they  had  the  true  missionary  hearts,  and  were  not 
to  be  swerved  from  the  path  of  duty.     A  scrap  of  a 
letter  written  at  this  time  is  preserved,  and  this  gives 
us  an  insight  into  the  heart  of  these  heroes  of  the  Cross. 
"  We  commit  our  ways  to  the  Lord.     We  do  not 
know  what  He  intends  to  do  with  us,  and  as  little  do 
we  understand  what  His  secret  hand  has  been  doing 
among  the  heathen.     So  much  we  observe  that  more 
trials  await  us,  yea,  we  believe  that  the  issue  will  be 
truly  glorious,  and  when  He  has  exercised  us  enough, 
and  found  us  faithful  to  Him,  and  the  call  He  has 
given  us.  He  will  not  fail  to  let  us  see  His  glory.    Our 
Bible  hour  is  a  particular  blessing  to  our  hearts  in 
these  circumstances,  and  He  grants  us  many  a  solution 
in  our  affair.    We  feel  that  He  is  with  us,  and  although 
people  that  look  at  things  present,  and  are  insensible 
to  future  things,  can   neither  see  nor  comprehend 
matters  in  the  beginning,  and  look  upon  us  simple 
servants  either  as  fools  or  conceited  men,  who  only 
want  to  begin  something  new  and  erect  ourselves  a 
name,  yet  we  firmly  believe  that  He  will  in  due  time 
prosper  the  work  of  our  hands  which  is  His  work,  and 
make  it  manifest  that  He  hath  chosen  and  called  us 
to  this  labour.     May  only  Jesus  Christ  who  is  yester- 
day and  to-day  the  same,  never  withhold  His  grace 
from   His  poor  and  helpless  creatures,  but  keep  us 
through  His  strength  willing  to  serve  the  heathen. at 
His  beck,  and  then  in  time  all  will  issue  to  His  praise." 
Once  more,  and  for  the  last  time,  we  turn  our  eyes 
from  the  Moravian  Settlement  at  Herrnhut,  to  Hans 
Egede  and  his  colony.     The  ship  which  brought  the 
gifts  from   Amsterdam  was  setting  sail  homewards 
again,  and  Egede,  the  pioneer  worker  for  Christ  in 


fl 


;.;  y 


1 


io6 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


these  snowy  solitudes,  reluctantly  stepped  on  board 
to  go  back.  For  fifteen  years  he  had  laboured 
amongst  these  people,  and  spent  his  strength  in  a 
service  as  devoted  as  any  in  the  annals  of  a  mission- 
ary enterprise.  He  yearned  for  home.  His  faithful 
wife,  the  loving  partner  of  his  sufferings,  had  sickened 
and  died  in  his  arms,  and  the  infirm  and  sorrowful 
man  prepared  to  take  her  precious  remains  to  be 
buried  in  her  native  land.  "  It  is  known  to  many," 
said  he,  in  speaking  of  her,  "  with  what  patience,  nay, 
with  what  alacrity  she  put  her  shoulder  with  mine,  to 
bear  her  part  of  the  labours  and  adversities  we  had  to 
endure,  nay,  how  often  she  comforted  and  cheered  up 
my  mind,  when  it  was  disheartened  and  depressed  by 
such  reiterated  obstacles  and  repulses."  He  gathered 
the  people  together,  and  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
from  the  text,  "  I  said  I  have  laboured  in  vain,  I  have 
spent  my  strength  for  naught  in  vain,  yet  surely  my 
judgment  is  with  the  Lord  and  my  work  with  my 
God."  His  farewell  with  the  Brethren  was  very 
affecting ;  he  assured  them  again  and  again  of  his 
sincere  love  for  them,  and  prayed  that  whatever  of 
the  blessing  of  the  Lord  he  had  experienced  in  the 
work  might,  like  the  prophet's  mantle,  rest  upon  them 
with  power.  His  heart  was  evidently  very  full,  when 
in  a  few  words  of  broken  utterance  he  commended 
Greenland  to  their  care.  "  I  wish  you,"  he  said,  "  the 
divine  blessing  and  assistance  in  your  call  and  office, 
and  I  cherish  a  lively  hope  that  God  will  still  bring 
the  work  in  Greenland,  which  I  must  now  leave  full 
of  heaviness,  to  a  glorious  issue."  At  the  close  he 
baptised  a  little  Greenland  boy,  and  with  a  sorrowful 
spirit  sailed  away.     Reaching  Copenhagen,  he  laid 


PESTILENCE  AND   PATIENCE. 


107 


his  wife  to  rest  in  the  quiet  churchyard  of  St. 
Nicholas,  and  devoted  himself  then  to  advocate  the 
cause  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart,  and  to  which 
he  had  given  his  life.  His  strength,  however,  began 
to  fail,  and  his  closing  years  were  spent  with  his 
daughter  on  the  Island  of  Falstcr,  where  on  the  5th  of 
November,  1758,  he  passed  away,  in  the  73rd  year  of 
his  age. 


"  Suffice  it  if — my  good  and  ill  unreckoncd, 

And  both  forgiven  through  Thy  abounding  grace — 
I  find  myself  by  hands  familiar  beckoned 
Unto  my  fitting  place. 

"  Some  humble  door  among  Thy  many  mansions, 

Some  sheltering  shade  where  sin  and  strivings  cease, 
Where  flows  for  ever  through  heaven's  green  expansions 
The  river  of  Thy  peace. 

"  There  from  the  music  round  about  one  stealing, 
I  fain  would  learn  the  new  and  holy  song, 
And  find  at  last  beneath  Thy  tree  of  healing 
The  life  for  which  I  long." 

Whittier. 


fl!! 


i 


i 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

now  THE  GREENLANDERS  LIVE. 

The  sheep  are  bleating  on  the  snowclad  wold, 
The  night  is  darkening,  and  the  tempests  rave  ; 

What  faithful  shepherd  will  the  lost  enfold, 
And  save  the  wretched  from  a  wintry  grave .-' 

WHEN  Egede  landed  in  Greenland,  he  was,  as 
has  been  seen,  disappointed  with  the  appear- 
ance of  the  people  who  were  to  be  his  future 
care.  They  were  certainly  not  attractive. 
In  the  first  place  he  noted  their  diminutive  size,  and 
that  their  faces,  with  high  cheekbones,  small  noses, 
and  tawny  skins,  displayed  a  very  small  share  of 
intelligence.  They  were  evidently  very  stupid  in 
disposition,  and  a  nearer  acquaintance  revealed  that 
they  were  dirty  and  repulsive  in  their  habits  of  daily 
life.  Such  a  desirable  custom  as  washing  them- 
selves is  evidently  little  practised,  and  partly  in 
consequence  of  this  and  of  the  constant  use  of  train- 
oil,  which  they  thickly  smear  over  their  faces  and 
bodies,  they  grow  up  from  being  white  babies  at  the 
beginning  to  become  brown,  sallow  and  unhealthy 
io8 


I 


HOW  THE  GREENLANDERS  LIVE. 


109 


looking.  And  yet  they  arc  generally  rather  fat  and 
well  made,  and  notwithstanding  their  ill  looks,  con- 
sider themselves  exceedingly  handsome  and  well 
bred.  When  they  come  in  contact  with  Europeans 
they  are  always  ready  to  assume  their  own  superi- 
ority and  say  if  the  stranger  is  specially  shy  and 
civil,  "He  is  almost  as  well  bred  as  we,"  or,  "lie 
begins  to  be  a  man,  that  is  to  be  a  Greenlandcr." 
Such  a  self-conceit,  of  course,  is  not  by  any  means 
peculiar  to  the  Arctic  regions,  but,  at  any  rate,  in  the 
matter  of  personal  appearance  it  is  seldom  so  little 
justified.  They  are  rather  a  melancholy  people,  little 
disposed  to  make  friends,  and  contented  with  their 
position  in  life  and  the  simple  round  of  work  which 
falls  daily  to  their  share.  They  lack  perseverance, 
and  if  a  thing  they  take  in  hand  does  not  soon  turn 
out  well  they  cast  it  aside;  and  yet  as  an  exception  in 
their  seal  fishing  they  can  display  wonderful  patience, 
sitting  for  hours  without  sound  or  movement  waiting 
for  their  game.  Their  clothing  is  simple  ;  the  outer 
garment,  made  of  the  skin  of  reindeer  or  seal,  and 
shaped  like  a  waggoner's  smock,  is  put  on  over 
their  heads  and  fastened  under  their  chins.  The 
other  garments  are  also  made  from  skins,  and  arc 
so  joined  together  that  neither  the  wet,  snow  nor 
the  cold  east  wind  can  penetrate.  The  only  differ- 
ence between  the  dress  of  the  men  and  the  women 
is  that  the  outer  tunic  or  smock  worn  by  the  latter  is 
made  pointed  in  front,  and  the  mothers  have  a  sort  of 
burnous  across  their  shoulder,  in  which  the  baby  very 
happily  spends  its  ea-rliest  days.  They  have  all  very 
black,  straight  hair,  which  the  men  cut  short  except 
a  kind  of  fringe  over  their  foreheads  ;  but  the  ladies 


no 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


t  i 


are  very  proud  of  their  tresses,  and  are  especially 
vain  of  the  manner  in  which  they  dress  them.  Thjy 
gather  the  hair  up  very  tightly  from  all  sides  of  their 
head  and  then  tie  it  up  as  a  knot  or  tuft,  the  most 
fashionable  being  the  ladies  who  can  arrange  this  tuft 
up  the  highest.  It  is  held  together  with  a  band  of 
sealskin  coloured,  the  unmarried  girls  wearing  red, 


GREKNI,AN!)ERS'   WINTER    nWEM-INGS. 

the  married  women  blue,  the  mothers  green,  the 
widows  black,  and  the  very  old  women  white.  This 
style  of  cultivating  the  hair  is  not  altogether  con- 
ducive to  its  growth,  however,  as  the  extreme  tight- 
ness of  the  method  renders  the  wearer  bald  long 
before  old  age. 

The  men  never  wear  beards,  and  pluck  out  every 


HOW  THE  GREENLANDERS  LIVE. 


Ill 


''  t 


scrap  of  hair  which  appears  upon  their  face,  while  the 
women  think  it  a  mark  of  beauty  to  have  a  black  line, 
made  of  thread  and  soot,  drawn  round  their  chins 
and  on  theii  cheeks. 

In  the  summer  time  they  live  in  skin  tents,  but  in 
winter  have  more  permanent  residences,  indeed,  their 
houses  are  made  with  skill.  The  illustration  given  of 
one  of  these  winter  dwellings  is  admirably  described 
by  Crantz,  as  follows : — 

"These  houses  are  ten  fathoms  in  breadth,  and 
from  four  to  twelve  fathoms  in  length,  according 
as  more  or  fewer  live  in  them,  and  just  so  high  as  a 
person  can  stand  erect  in.  They  are  not  built  under- 
ground as  is  commonly  thought,  but  on  some  elevated 
place  and  preferable  on  a  steep  rock,  because  the 
melted  snow-water  will  run  off  the  better.  They  lay 
great  stones  upon  one  another  near  a  fathom  broad, 
and  layers  of  earth  and  sods  between  them.  On 
these  walls  they  rest  the  beam  the  length  of  the 
house ;  if  one  beam  is  not  long  enough  they  join  two 
or  three,  or  even  four  together  with  leather  straps,  and 
support  them  with  posts.  They  lay  rafters  across 
these  and  small  wood  again  between  the  rafters. 
All  this  they  cover  with  bilberry  bushes,  then  with 
turf,  and  last  of  all,  throw  fine  earth  on  the  top.  As 
long  as  it  freezes,  these  roofs  hold  pretty  well,  but 
when  the  summer  rains  come,  they  fall  mostly  in,  and 
both  roof  and  wall  must  be  repaired  again  the  ensuing 
autumn.  They  never  build  far  from  the  water, 
because  they  must  live  from  the  sea,  and  the 
entrance  is  towards  the  seaside.  These  houses  have 
neither  door  nor  chimney.  The  use  of  both  is 
supplied  by  a  vaulted  passage  made  of  stone  and 


!? 


f 


I     I 


112 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


earth  two  or  three  fathoms  long,  entering  through  the 
middle  of  the  house.  It  is  so  very  low  that  it  is 
scarcely  sufficient  to  stoop,  but  one  must  almost 
creep  in  on  hands  and  feet,  especially  where  we 
first  step  down  into  the  passage  both  from  within 
and  without.  This  long  entry  keeps  off  the  wind 
and  cold  excellently,  and  lets  out  the  thick  air,  for 
smoke  they  have  none.  The  walls  are  hung  inside 
with  old,  worn  tent  and  boat  skins,  fastened  with 
nails  made  of  the  ribs  of  seals;  this  is  to  keep  off 
the  damps.  The  roof  is  also  covered  with  them 
outside. 

"From  the  middle  of  the  house  to  the  wall,  the 
whole  length  of  the  house,  there  is  a  raised  floor  or 
broad  bench,  a  foot  high,  made  of  boards  and  covered 
with  skins.  This  floor  is  divided  into  several  apart- 
ments, resembling  horses'  stalls,  by  skins  reaching 
from  the  posts  that  support  the  roof  to  the  wall. 
Each  family  has  each  a  separate  stall,  and  the 
number  of  families  occupying  one  such  house  are 
from  three  to  ten.  On  these  floors  they  sleep  upon 
pelts ;  they  also  sit  upon  them  all  the  day  long,  the 
men  foremost  with  their  legs  hanging  down,  the 
women  commonly  cross-legged  behind  them  in  the 
Turkish  mode.  The  woman  cooks  and  sews,  and  the 
man  carves  his  tackle  and  tools.  On  the  front  wall  of 
the  house  where  the  entry  is,  are  several  square 
windows  the  size  of  two  full  feet,  made  out  of  seals' 
guts  and  halibuts'  maws,  and  sewed  so  neat  and  tight 
that  the  wind  and  the  snow  is  kept  out  and  the 
daylight  let  in.  A  bench  runs  along  the  windows 
the  whole  length  of  the  house  ;  on  this  the  strangers 
sit  and  sleep. 


u'^"- 


1 


GREENLANDERS  AND   DOGS. 


113 


H 


HOW  THE  GREENLANDERS   LIVE. 


115 


"  By  every  post  is  a  fire-place.  They  lay  a  block  of 
wood  upon  the  ground,  and  upon  that  a  flat  stone  ;  on 
the  stone  a  low  three-legged  stool  hewn  out  of  one  of 
their  French  chalk  or  soft  bastard  marble  about  a  foot 
long;  and  formed  almost  like  a  half-moon,  it  stands  in 
an  oval  wooden  bowl  to  receive  the  train-oil  that  runs 
over.  In  this  lamp  filled  with  train  of  seals,  they  lay 
on  the  right  side  some  moss  rubbed  fine,  instead  of 
cotton,  which  burns  so  bright,  that  the  house  is  not 
only  sufficiently  lighted  with  so  many  lamps,  but 
warmed  too.  But  the  chief  article  is  still  behind — viz., 
that  over  this  lamp  a  bastard  marble  kettle  hangs  by 
four  strings  fastened  to  the  roof,  which  kettle  is  a  foot 
long  and  half-a-foot  broad,  and  shaped  like  a  longish 
box.  In  this  they  boil  all  their  meat.  Still  over  that 
they  fasten  a  wooden  rack,  on  which  they  lay  their 
wet  clothes  and  skins  to  dry." 

It  needs  scarcely  be  said  that  the  atmosphere  of  these 
close,  unventilated  rooms  is  most  unbearably  offensive. 
Their  lamps  are  burning  day  and  night,  and  it  will  be 
easily  imagined  how  much  self-denial  these  devoted 
missionaries  exercised,  when,  during  that  awful  plague 
they  crept  into  such  dens  to  tend  the  sick  and  dying. 
And  yet  the  chronicler  adds,  "  in  other  respects  we 
are  at  a  loss  which  to  admire  most,  their  excellently 
contrived  house-keeping,  which  they  have  compi  'sed 
within  the  smallest  circle,  their  content  and  satisfaction 
in  poverty,  in  the  midst  of  which  they  imagine  they 
are  richer  than  we,  or  finally,  their  apparent  order  and 
stillness  in  such  a  narrow  crowded  compass." 

Their  food  consists  almost  entirely  of  seal  flesh  or  dry 
herrings,  and  as  they  generally  make  but  one  meal 
a-day,  they  eat  like  gluttons,  and  take  no  thought  for 


ii6 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


the  morrow.  When  they  can  get  it  they  feast  inordin- 
ately, but  when  the  seals  have  withdrawn  in  the  early 
part  of  the  year,  they  have  no  provisions  in  store,  and 
suffer  hunger  even  unto  death.  Their  drink,  in  the 
days  when  Egcdc  came,  was  water,  and  the  sin  of 
drunkeimess  was  unknown.  They  showed  their 
abhorrence  of  strong  liquors,  calling  it  by  the  very 
apt  name  of  mad-water,  but  after  a  time  they  tasted 
brandy  and  got  a  craving  for  it,  and  exhibited  the 
usual  degradation  which  follows  its  use. 

"  They  have  two  kinds  of  boat,  the  kayak  for  the 
men,  sharp  at  head  and  stern  like  a  weaver's  shuttle, 
and  the  umiak  or  women's  boat,  exclusively  used  by 
them.  In  the  use  of  the  kayak  the  Greenlander  is 
very  expert,  and  goes  through  a  long  training  to 
qualify  himself  for  such  a  dangerous  craft.  The  great 
peril  is  of  being  overturned  by  the  waves,  and  against 
this  he  arms  himself  for  learning  to  turn  entirely  over 
in  the  water,  his  whole  body  being  submerged  under 
the  boat,  and  then  regaining  his  position  by  a  twist  of 
the  oar.  The  experiment  is  a  risky  one,  but  when 
proficient  he  can  without  fear  meet  any  storm  or 
calamity  at  sea. 

"  The  method  of  catching  seals  is  attended  with 
some  danger,  especially  the  way  most  common  in  the 
time  of  Egede,  called  the  bladder  style.  The  Green- 
lander  sets  out  in  his  kayak  with  both  wind  and  sun 
at  his  back,  so  that  the  seal  may  neither  hear  nor  see 
him.  Immediately  it  is  observed  coming  up  to  the 
surface  of  the  water  for  air,  he  throws  his  harpoon 
with  trained  accuracy,  the  same  being  secured  to  the 
kayak  by  a  long  line.  When  struck,  the  seal  dives 
down,  and  the  man  then  disengages  the  end  of  the 


JJL. 


HOW  THE  GREENLANDERS  LIVE. 


117 


rope,  and  ties  a  large  bladder  thereto,  which  for  a  few 
moments  is  also  dragged  under  the  water  by  the 
wounded  seal.  When  it  comes  up  again  another 
small  harpoon  is  flung  at  its  body,  and  thus  in  time  it 
dies  and  is  dragged  after  the  kayak  homewards.  In 
this  exercise  the  Greenlandcr  is  exposed  to  the  most 
and  greatest  danger  of  his  life,  which  is  probably  the 
reason  why  they  call  this  hunt  or  fishery,  kamavok, 
i.e.,  the  extinction,  viz.,  of  life.  For  if  the  line  should 
entangle  itself,  as  it  easily  may,  in  its  sudden  and 


"^' 1 

'**l3 

GREENLANDERS'   HOUSE   FOR  THREE   FAMILIES. 

violent  motion,  or  if  it  should  catch  hold  of  the  kayak 
or  wind  itself  round  the  oar,  or  the  hand,  or  even 
the  neck,  as  it  sometimes  does  in  windy  weather,  or 
if  the  seal  should  turn  suddenly  to  the  other  side  of 
the  boat,  it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  that  the  kayak 
must  be  overturned  by  the  string  and  drawn  down 
under  water.  On  such  desperate  occasions  the  poor 
Greenlander  stands  in  need  of  all  the  arts  already 
described  to  disentangle  himself  from  the  string,  and 


Ii8 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


to  raise  himself  up  from  under  the  water  several  time:3 
successively,  for  he  will  be  continually  overturning 
till  he  has  quite  disengaged  himself  from  the  line. 
Nay,  when  he  imagines  himself  to  be  out  of  danger 
and  comes  too  near  the  dying  seal,  it  may  still  bite  him 
in  the  face  or  hand,  and  a  female  seal  that  has  young, 
instead  of  flying  the  field,  will  sometimes  fly  at  the 
Greenlander  in  the  most  vehement  rage  and  do  him 
a  mischief,  or  bite  a  hole  in  his  kayak  that  he  must 
sink." 

In  their  domestic  life  the  Greenlanders  were  found 
by  the  missionaries  to  have  many  admirable  points  of 
character.  Husband  and  wife  live  happily  together 
with  very  few  jealousies  or  jars,  and  the  afl'ection 
which  they  bestow  upon  their  children  is  remarkable. 
They  are  brought  up  without  any  severe  discipline, 
and  are  rarely  reprimanded  or  chastised  by  their 
parents.  It  must  be  said  that  they  deserve  this  kind 
treatment,  for  they  give  little  trouble,  and  are  satisfied 
with  their  simple  games,  and  early  learn  to  be  of 
service  in  the  fishing  or  housekeeping.  They  are 
amenable  to  kind  words,  and  as  they  grow  up  into 
their  teens  expect  to  be  placed  upon  equality  as 
friends ;  and  any  attempt  to  force  them  against  their 
inclinations  to  do  anything  is  met  with  a  distinct 
and  abrupt  "  I  will  not."  One  of  their  drawbacks  is 
that  when  their  parents  or  grand-parents  get  advanced 
in  years  they  show  them  scant  respect.  The  women 
have  a  hard  time  of  it.  After  her  twentieth  year  she 
becomes  a  perfect  slave  in  the  house,  ill  clad  and 
worse  fed.  But  for  all  their  fear,  labour,  and  vexation 
of  spirit,  the  women  live  to  a  greater  age  than  the 
men,  who   are  generally  prematurely   aged   by  the 


HOW  THE  GKEENLANDERS   LIVE. 


I  ID 


sufferings  at  sea ;  and  by  the  habit  of  almost  starv- 
ing and  then  giving  way  to  gluttony,  the  male  sex 
rarely  live  beyond  fifty  years.  But  the  women  hold  on 
to  life  until  seventy,  eighty,  or  even  older,  and  they 
betake  themselves  to  witchcraft,  lying,  and  the  like, 
for  the  purpose  of  a  livelihood. 

Here  is  a  good  account  of  their  domestic  felicity 
from  an  eye-witness  : — 

"Several  different  families  with  their  children  of 
divers  ages  live  in  one  house,  so  still,  circumspect,  and 
peaceful  that  less  disturbance  is  perceived  than  in 
many  a  mansion  where  only  two  families  dwell,  that 
are  perhaps  also  near  relatives.  And  should  one  of 
them  imagine  himself  injured  by  others,  he  only 
removes  to  another  house  without  saying  a  murmur- 
ing word.  They  are  glad  to  be  assistant  to  each 
other,  and  live  in  some  respects  in  common,  yet  with- 
out one's  relying  upon  another's  labours  and  growing 
negligent  and  idle  himself.  If  a  man  returns  home 
with  provision  in  the  evening,  especially  with  a  seal 
in  winter,  which  are  then  scarce  and  hard  to  be 
caught,  he  gives  a  portion  to  all  in  the  house,  even  the 
poor  widows,  and  invites  some  neighbours  besides  to 
partake  of  his  good  cheer.  But  no  one  asks  for  any- 
thing to  eat,  let  him  be  as  poor  and  hungry  as  he  will, 
nor  is  it  necessary,  because  hospitality  is  practised  all 
over  the  country,  both  toward  their  acquaintance  and 
strangers.  This  custom  is  the  more  requisite  and 
laudable,  because  the  different  seasons  and  occupations 
often  call  them  many  leagues  from  home,  and  they 
cannot  find  everywhere  time  and  opportunity  to 
catch  what  is  necessary  for  their  subsistence." 

Although  a  serious   race  they  have  their   merry 


■  ! 


m 


I20 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


times,  and  are  very  fond  of  dancing.  One  of  their 
principal  events  is  the  sun  feast,  when  they  assemble 
to  the  sound  of  a  small  drum  made  of  whalebone  and 
a  stretched  whale's  tongue.  One  man  who  tattoos  on 
the  drum  sings  some  song,  leaping  about  in  indescrib- 
able antics  all  the  while.  At  the  end  of  each  stanza 
the  people  round  the  ring  join  in  the  chorus  of 
"  Amna  Ajah,  Ajah,  ah-ah ! "  and  the  complete 
cantata,  which  is  in  praise  of  the  orb  of  day,  runs 
thus : — 

"  The  welcome  sun  returns  again, 
Amna  ajah,  ajah,  ah-hu  ! 
And  brings  us  weather  fine  and  fair, 
Amna  ajah,  ajah,  ah-hu  ! " 


ill 

r 


i;RKKNLANI)    l.AMI'. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


THEIR   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS. 


"  As  through  the  glimmering  veil  of  early  dawn 
In  outline  blurred  appears  each  flower  and  tree, 
So  sees  the  heathen,  in  his  darkness  born, 
Through  brightening  haze,  the  Christ  that  is  to  be." 


IN  order  to  thoroughly  understand  the  work  of 
Egede  and  his  successors  in  the  Greenland 
mission  field,  it  will  be  necessary  to  know  what 
was  the  religion  already  possessed  by  the  natives 
before  the  Gospel  came  to  their  ears  and  understand- 
ing. Previous  to  the  missionaries  coming,  the  common 
report  given  by  the  sailors  who  had  had  intercourse 
with  the  people  was  that  they  were  gross  and  cruel 
idolaters,  worshipping  the  sun,  and  believing  very 
strongly  in  the  devil.  This  notion  of  their  worship  no 
doubt  arose  from  noticing  their  practice  of  standing  in 
crowds  in  certain  places  in  the  early  morning  to  see 

121 


!■ 


in 


122 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


I    il 


the  sun  rise,  not,  however,  as  an  act  of  adoration,  but 
in  order  that  they  might  judge  the  coming  weather. 
In  like  manner  the  sailors  had  found  altars  of  stone, 
upon  which  were  remains  of  fire  and  bones,  and  from 
this  slender  evidence  they  assumed  that  the  natives 
had  there  sacrificed  to  the  Evil  One  !  But  a  closer 
acquaintance  with  the  people  by  the  missionaries  soon 
disclosed  the  fact  that  these  were  simply  the  places 
where  the  Greenlanders  dressed  and  cooked  their 
food,  and  that  while,  in  common  with  all  heathen 
everywhere,  they  had  a  strong  belief  in  the  devil,  there 
was  no  trace  of  any  worship  to  him  being  found.  It 
would  be  hardly  just  to  speak  of  them  as  having  no 
religion  because  there  was  no  public  acknowledgment 
of  their  Deity  and  no  places  of  worship,  for  they  proved, 
in  many  cases,  to  be  a  very  intelligent  and  thoughtful 
people,  who,  notwithstanding  a  sort  of  native  stupidity, 
were  always  willing  to  discuss  and  consider  any  new 
views  about  the  Divine  Being  and  the  future  state.  As 
an  instance  of  this  the  following  may  be  cited  : — "  A 
missionary  once  being  in  company  with  some  bap- 
tised Greenlanders,  expressed  his  wonder  how  they 
could  formerly  lead  such  a  senseless  life,  void  of  reflec- 
tion. Upon  this  one  of  them  answered  as  follows : — 
*  It  is  true  we  were  ignorant  heathens  and  knew 
nothing  of  a  God  or  a  Saviour,  and  indeed,  who 
should  tell  us  of  Him  until  you  came?  But  thou 
must  not  imagine  that  no  Greenlander  thinks  about 
these  things.  I  myself  have  often  thought.  A  kayak 
with  all  its  tackle  and  implements  does  not  grow  into 
existence  of  itself,  and  must  be  made  by  the  labour 
and  ingenuity  of  man,  and  one  that  does  not  under- 
stand it  would  directly  spoil  it.     Now  the  meanest 


THEIR   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS.     1 23 


bird  has  far  more  skill  displayed  in  its  structure  than 
the  best  kayak,  and  no  man  can  make  a  bird.     But 
there  is  a  still  far  greater  art  shown  in  the  formation 
of  a  man  than  of  any  other  creature.     Who  was  it 
that  made  him  ?     I  bethought  me  he  proceeded  from 
his  parents  and  they  from  their  parents.     But  some 
must  have  been  the  first  parents ;  whence  did  they 
come?     Common  report  informs  me  they  grew  out 
of  the  earth.     But,  if  so,  why  does  it  not  still  happen 
that  man  grows  out  of  the  earth  ?     And  from  whence 
did  this  same  earth  itself,  the  sea,  the  sun,  the  moon, 
and  stars,  arise  into  existence  ?     Certainly  there  must 
be  some  Being  who  made  all  these  things,  a  Being , 
that  always  was  and  can  never  cease  to  be.    He  must 
be   inexpressibly  more   mighty,  knowing,  and  wise, 
than  the  wisest  man.      He  must  be  very  good  too, 
because  everything  that  He  has  made  is  good,  useful, 
and  necessary  for  us.     Ah !   did  I  but  know  Him, 
how  would  I  love  and  honour  Him?     But  who  has 
seen  Him?     Who  has  ever  conversed  with   Him? 
None  of  us  poor  men.     Yet  there  may  be  men  too 
that  know  something  of  Him  ;  oh,  could  I  but  speak 
with   such !      Therefore   (said   he),  as   soon   as  ever 
I  heard  you  speak  of  this  great  Being,  I  believed  it 
directly  with  all  my  heart,  because  I  had  so  long 
desired  to  hear  i|. ' " 

Another  added  his  testimony  in  these  words : — 
"A  man  is  quite  different  from  the  beasts.  The 
brutes  have  no  understanding,  but  they  serve  for  food 
to  each  other,  and  also  for  the  use  of  man.  But  man 
has  an  intelligent  soul,  is  subject  to  no  creature  in  the 
world,  and  yet  man  is  afraid  of  the  future  state. 
Who  is  it  that  he  is  afraid  of  there  ?     That  must  be 


124 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


a  great  Spirit  that  has  dominion  over  us.  Oh,  did  we 
but  know  Him  ;  oh,  had  we  but  Him  for  our  friend." 
Surely  these  were  sincere  seekers  after  God.  Although 
a  few  of  the  Greenlanders  professed  to  believe  in  no 
difiference  between  the  man  and  the  beast  as  regards 
the  soul,  the  majority  held  a  strong  belief  in  the  soul, 
together  with  some  strange  notions  relating  thereto. 
Thus,  some  believed  that  the  soul  increased  or 
decreased,  and  at  will  might  leave  the  body  with 
apparent  cflfect ;  others  held  that  every  one  had  two 
souls — viz.,  the  shadow  and  the  breath  of  man,  and 
that  in  the  night  season  this  volatile  shadow  escapes 
and  goes  hunting,  dancing,  or  travelling.  This  is 
accounted  for  by  the  lively  dreams  of  the  Green- 
landers.  There  were  also  traces  amongst  these 
people  of  a  belief  in  the  transmigration  of  the  soul, 
especially  in  the  case  of  deceased  children,  whose 
souls  are  supposed  to  inhabit  their  surviving  brothers 
and  sisters. 

As  regards  their  ideas  of  a  future  state,  they  have 
a  general  impression  that  it  will  in  any  case  be  better 
than  the  present.  Crantz,  in  a  very  clear  and 
interesting  manner,  thus  describes  their  belief  in  this 
respect : — "  As  the  Greenlanders  acquire  the  most  and 
best  of  their  sustenance  from  the  bosom  of  the  sea, 
therefore,  many  or  most  of  them  place  their  elysium 
in  the  abysses  of  the  ocean  or  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
and  think  the  deep  cavities  of  the  rocks  are  the 
avenues  leading  thereto.  There  dwells  Torngarsuk 
and  his  mother,  there  a  joyous  summer  is  perpetual, 
and  a  shining  sun  is  obscured  by  no  night,  there  is 
the  fair,  limpid  stream,  and  an  exuberance  of  fowls, 
fishes,  reindeer,  and  their  beloved  seals ;  and  these  are 


THEIR   RELIGIOUS   IDEAS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS.     12$ 


all   to   be   caught  without   toil,  nay,  they  are  even 
found  in  a  great  kettle  boiling  alive.     But  to  these 
seals  none  must  approach  but  those  that  have  been 
dexterous  and  diligent  at  their  work  (for  this  is  their 
grand   idea  of  virtue),   that   have   performed    great 
exploits,  have  mastered  many  whales  and  seals,  have 
undergone  great  hardships,  have  been  drowned  in  the 
sea,  or  died  in  childbed.    Hence  it  is  obvious  they  had 
formerly  a  tradition  that  good  would  be  rewarded. 
But  to  proceed,  the  disembodied  soul  does  not  enter 
dancing  into  the  elysium  fields,  but  must  spend  five 
whole  days,  and  some  say  longer,  in  sliding  down  a 
rugged  rock  which  is  thereby  become  full  of  blood 
and  gore.     I  cannot  say  whether  the  ground  of  this 
fable  was  a  notion  of  the  purgation  of  the  soul ;  or 
only  in  general  that  one  is  to  pa.ss  per  aspera  adastra. 
Those  unfortunate  souls  that  are  obliged  to  perform 
this  rough  journey  in  the  cold  winter,  or  in  boisterous 
weather,  are  peculiar  objects  of  their  pity,  because 
they  may  be  easily   destroyed   on  the  road,  which 
destruction  they  call  the  second  death,  and  describe 
it  as  perfect  extinction,  and  this  is  the  most  dreadful 
consideration  of  all  to  them.     Therefore,  during  these 
five  days  or  upwards,  the  surviving  relatives  must 
abstain  from  certain  meats  and  from  all  noisy  work 
(except  the  necessary  fishing),  that  the  soul  may  not 
be  disturbed  in  its  perilous  passage,  or  even  perish. 
Hence  it   might   be  supposed   that  their  ancestors, 
perhaps,  offered  some  oblations  for  the  departed  souls 
of  their  relations ;  at  least,  this  is  quite  discernible 
that  the  stupid  Greenlanders  as  well  as  the  sensible 
ancient  heathens  conceive  a  horror  at  the  thoughts  of 
the  entire  annihilation  of  the  soul. 


i 


126 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


"  Others,  that  are  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  the 
celestial  bodies,  soar  beyond  the  rainbow  to  the 
loftiest  sky  to  seek  their  paradise  there ;  and  they 
imagine  the  flight  thither  is  so  easy  and  rapid  that 
the  soul  rests  the  same  evening  in  the  mansion  of  the 
moon,  who  was  a  Greenlander,  and  there  it  can  dance 
and  play  at  ball  with  the  rest  of  the  souls ;  for  they 
interpret  the  northern  lights  to  be  the  dance  of 
sportive  souls.  There  the  souls  are  placed  in  tents 
round  a  vast  lake  where  fish  and  fowl  abound. 
When  this  lake  overflows  it  rains  upon  the  earth,  but 
should  once  the  dam  break  there  would  be  a  general 
deluge. 

"  But  the  first  of  the  sects  maintain  that  none  but 
the  worthless,  lazy  wretches  ascend  up  into  the  aerial 
void  and  find  there  a  great  famine  of  all  things,  for 
which  reason  the  souls  are  exceedingly  meagre,  weak, 
and  languid,  especially  as  they  can  have  no  repose  on 
account  of  the  rapid  rotation  of  the  heavens ;  that 
wicked  people  and  witches  especially  are  to  be 
banished  thither,  and  they  will  be  so  infested  with 
ravens  that  they  will  not  be  able  to  keep  them  off 
their  hair.  But  the  last  sect  think  they  know  their 
destiny  better ;  they  shall  associate  with  a  group  of 
souls  like  themselves,  and  shall  feed  upon  nothing 
but  seals'  heads,  which  will  never  be  consumed." 

It  is  always  curious  to  discover  in  lands  which  for 
the  first  time  become  accessible  to  the  outer  world, 
traces  in  their  religious  belief  and  doctrine  of  the 
facts  and  teaching  of  Holy  Scriptures.  Traditions  of 
the  creation,  the  flood,  and  the  judgment  to  come, 
are  everywhere  cropping  up  in  the  language  and 
religious  thought  of  the  people.     When  Egede  went  to 


of 


THEIR  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS   AND  SUPERSTITIONS.     127 

Greenland  he  found  that  they  called  the  first  created 
man,  Kallak,  who  is  reported  to  have  sprung  out  of 
the  earth  and  that  his  wife  sprung  out  of  his  thumb, 
and  that  they  became  the  first  parents  of  the  race. 
The  fall  they  ascribed  to  a  saying  of  the  woman,  *'  Let 
these  die  to  make  room  for  their  posterity,"  and  thus 


SUMMER   TUPICS  OR   TENTS. 


death  entered  into  the  world.  They  have  many 
traditions  of  the  flood,  speaking  of  one  man  only 
being  saved  from  the  general  destruction,  and  that  he 
afterwards  smote  the  ground  with  his  stick  and  out 
sprang  a  woman,  who,  like  a  second  Eve,  repeopled 


128 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


the  world.  And  they  point,  as  evidence  of  the  flood, 
to  the  sea-shells  and  bones  of  whales  on  the  tops  of 
high  mountains  far  inland. 

Respecting  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  Mr.  Paul 
l^^gcilc,  who  took  up  his  father's  work  and  deserves  to 
inherit  some  of  his  father's  fame,  discovered  amongst 
the  Greenlanders  a  belief  that  in  distant  periods  of 
time  all  mankind  will  have  ceased  to  live,  and  that  this 
earth  will  then  be  dashed  to  pieces  and  purified  from 
the  contamination  of  the  dead  by  a  vast  flood  of 
water.  Then  shall  blow  a  wind  gathering  the  clean 
washed  dust  together,  and  a  more  beautiful  world  will 
replace  the  old.  There  will  then  be  no  more  bare  and 
barren  rocks  but  lovely  fields  overspread  with  verdure 
and  perpetual  delights.  The  animals  will  be  reani- 
mated, but  men,  Pirksoma^  this  is  what  they  say  is 
their  portion,  "Then  He  that  is  above  will  breathe 
upon  them  and  they  shall  live." 

Correctly  speaking,  the  Greenlanders  acknowledge 
but  one  Deity,  the  good  and  great  spirit  Torngarsuk. 
They  do  not  credit  him  with  the  creation  of  all  things, 
but  they  know  that  after  death  they  go  to  him  and 
become  strong  through  his  strength.  He  is  their 
superior  or  supreme  god,  just  as  Jupiter  or  Pluto 
were  regarded  by  the  ancients,  but  they  do  not 
render  him  any  worship  or  special  honour.  It  is 
possible  that  in  ages  past  a  more  definite  creed  was 
accompanied  by  some  sort  of  adoration  and  even 
sacrifice,  but  if  a  Greenlander  is  seen  setting  apart 
a  piece  of  blubber  or  seal's  flesh  near  a  great  stone, 
he  can  give  no  other  explanation  of  his  action  than 
that  his  forefathers  did  the  same  to  insure  success  in 
their  fishing. 


ledge 

irsuk. 

lings, 

and 

their 

^luto 

not 

It  is 

d  was 
even 
apart 

stone, 
than 


THEIR    RELIGIOUS  IDEAS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS.     1 29 

They  are,  however,  taught  to  believe  in  another 
spirit  who  has  no  name,  but  is  known  as  a  malevolent 
woman,  a  horrible  Proserpine  living  in  the  infernal 
regions  under  the  sea.  There,  she  is  supposed  to 
exert  great  influence,  holding  the  creatures  of  the 
ocean  in  her  thrall  by  a  magic  lamp.  But  she  may 
be  conquered  by  the  angekok,  who,  when  calamities 
come,  is  supposed  to  make  a  journey  to  her  under 
the  guidance  of  his  own  particular  familiar  spirit. 
The  description  of  his  passage  thither  is  full  of 
fantastic  horrors  until  he  approaches  the  abyss  or 
awful  vacuum,  in  front  of  which  a  wheel  of  ice  revolves 
with  terrific  rapidity.  After  that  he  has  a  conflict 
with  the  goddess  and  destroys  her  enchantments. 

But  the  religion  of  these  Greenlanders  is  embodied 
in  the  influence  of  the  angekoks  or  priests — perhaps  a 
better  term  would  be  magicians.  Like  the  priests 
everywhere  they  profess  to  stand  between  the  great 
spirit  who  can  harm  and  the  human  victim.  Their 
assumption  of  power  is  most  astounding,  but  the 
poor,  superstitious  people  dare  not,  even  if  they  felt 
they  ought,  oppose  their  wishes  or  discredit  their 
powers.  Every  angekok  professes  to  have  an  attend- 
ant spirit,  and,  like  the  mediums  of  a  later  day,  are 
constantly  pretending  to  transmit  messages  from  the 
unseen  to  a  gaping  and  credulous  crowd.  He  reminds 
the  people  that  the  air  is  full  of  apparitions  of  the 
departed  whom  he  alone  can  see,  and  one  of  Egcdc's 
sons  was  told  by  a  boy  that  on  one  occasion 
he  was  playing  with  other  boys  in  broad  daylight 
when  he  was  taken  hold  of  by  his  mother  who  had 
been  buried  there  and  who  said,  "  Do  not  be  fright- 
ened, I  am  thy  mother  and  love  thee,  thou  wilt  live 

I 


iii 


I 


130 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


with  Strange  people  who  will  instruct  thee  concerning 
Him  who  made  heaven  and  earth." 

Before  a  man  can  become  an  angckok,  he  has  to 
pass  through  a  long  and  painful  preparation,  retiring 
like  the  Indian  holy  men  from  all  familiar  sights  and 
sounds,  there  in  his  lonely  hermitage  to  meditate  and 
call  upon  his  god  to  send  him  a  torngak,  or  familiar 
spirit.  When  fully  gratified,  he  allows  himself  to  be 
bound,  and  then  in  the  dark  goes  off  into  a  sort  of 
convulsion,  during  which  his  soul  is  supposed  to  make 
the  fateful  journey  to  the  shades.  When  it  returns, 
he  utters  shouts  of  joy,  and  like  the  Delphian  oracle, 
gives  the  message  in  such  an  obscure  manner,  that 
any  subsequent  event  will  be  made  to  fit  the  prophecy. 

Such  men  of  course  formed  the  principal  and 
inveterate  opposition  to  the  missionaries.  Egede  took 
great  pains  and  made  himself  liable  to  great  dangers, 
in  order  to  expose  their  fraudulent  practices.  But  such 
was  the  influence  of  the  angekok,  that  it  was  difficult  to 
make  the  common  folk  believe  that  they  were  being 
imposed  upon.  The  historian  of  the  time  very  fairly 
sums  up  the  character  of  these  magicians.  After 
describing  their  extravagant  claims,  he  goes  on  to 
say : — 

"  This  is  so  very  coarse  that  the  fraud  betrays  itself. 
The  missionaries  have  also  pointed  it  out  to  the  Green- 
landers  quite  plainly  on  many  occasions,  but  they 
have  never  found  any  adequate  ground  to  charge  these 
poor  people  with  a  real  dealing  with  Satan.  Neither 
ought  they  all  in  a  lump  to  be  pronounced  mere 
jugglers.  There  are  some  sensible,  ingenious  persons 
among  them,  though  their  number  is  but  small ;  others 
are  real  phantasts,  to  whom  something  uncommon 


THEIR  RELIGIOUS   IDEAS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS.     I3I 


2rning 

has  to 
ctiring 
ts  and 
itc  and 
^miliar 
"  to  be 
sort  of 
)  make 
eturns, 
oracle, 
er,  that 
jphecy. 
al   and 
de  took 
angers, 
ut  such 
icult  to 
J  being 
y  fairly 
After 
on  to 

s  itself. 
Green- 
it  they 
e  these 
^J  either 
mere 
persons 
others 
Dmmon 


may  have  happened ;  but  the  most  arc  bare-faced 
deceivers. 

"  The  sensible  ones,  whom  we  might  call  wise  men, 
or  genuine  angekoks  (for  the  word  implies  almost  as 
much  as  a  great  and  wise  man),  these,  I  say,  have 
acquired  a  certain  knowledge  of  nature,  partly  from 
the  instructions  of  their  predecessors,  and  partly 
through  their  own  reflections  and  experiences,  from 
which  they  may  draw  a  pretty  good  conclusion  of  the 
weather,  or  a  good  or  bad  fishery,  and  consequently 
can  advise  people  how  to  proceed  in  this  and  the 
other  case.  Their  regimen  with  the  sick  is  the  same  ; 
they  mean  no  other  but  to  cheer  up  the  patient, 
though  legerdemain  is  the  principal  ingredient  in  the 
cordial,  and  as  long  as  they  themselves  have  any  hopes 
of  a  recovery  they  will  do  their  best  to  cure  them, 
mostly  by  a  diet  that  indeed  is  not  so  very  ridiculous 
in  many  respects.  And  as  their  good  understanding 
and  conduct  raises  them  to  much  repute,  that  others 
regulate  themselves  by  them,  they  may  be  character- 
ised as  the  virtuosos,  philosophers,  physicians,  and 
moralists  of  the  Greenlanders,  as  well  as  their  deceivers. 

"When  Europeans  talk  solidly  with  such  sooth- 
sayers, they  bring  the  apparitions  or  conversations 
with  the  spirits,  and  all  the  prodigies  connected  with 
it ;  but  they  allege  the  traditions  of  their  progenitors, 
who,  however,  are  affirmed  to  have  had  revelations, 
and  to  have  performed  extraordinary  cures,  which 
were  mostly  of  the  sympathetic  kind.  They  confess 
they  were  obliged  to  pretend  certain  visions,  and  to 
make  portentious  gesticulations  to  raise  their  credit 
among  the  simple  people,  and  to  give  weight  to  their 
prescriptions." 


N 


^1 


'I 


132 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


The  Grcenlanders  arc  great  believers  in  the  efficacy 
of  amulets  and  charms.  They  generally  are  adorned 
with  mysterious  relics,  bits  of  old  wood,  stones,  bones  ; 
or  a  piece  of  leather  will  answer  the  purpose.  When 
they  go  to  the  whale  fishing,  they  must  be  all  cleanly 
dressed,  and  all  the  lamps  in  the  tent  must  be  extin- 
guished. They  fasten  to  their  kayak  a  model  of  it, 
with  a  little  figure  of  a  man  holding  a  sword  in  his 
hand,  so  that  they  may  not  be  over-set,  and  the  pos- 
session of  foxes'  teeth  and  the  talons  of  the  eagle  are 
of  special  value  against  accident  or  sickness.  One  of 
their  curious  burial  customs,  when  committing  to  the 
earth  the  body  of  a  child,  is  to  put  a  dog's  head  also 
in  the  grave  to  lead  the  little  spirit  to  the  land  of  the 
eternally  blest. 

And  yet  with  all  their  ignorance  and  superstitions, 
these  poor  Grcenlanders  in  many  cases  lived  righteous 
lives,  and  acted  in  a  manner  which  might  well  be 
taken  as  an  example  by  the  more  enlightened  Christ- 
ians in  Europe.  Their  lack  of  knowledge  and  bondage 
to  false  ideas  of  religion,  made  the  heart  of  Egede 
beat  in  true  sympathy  for  them.  In  the  British 
Museum  is  an  ancient  little  volume  containing  his 
words,  while  still  valiantly  striving  to  win  these 
precious  souls  for  his  Master.  In  an  address  in  which 
he  has  been  evidently  pleading  the  cause  so  dear  to 
his  heart,  he  uses  words  which  may  fitly  close  this 
present  chapter. 

"  The  knowledge  of  God  is  undoubtedly  that  which 
affords  the  greatest  happiness  to  mankind,  as  the 
want  of  it  makes  one  the  most  wretched  of  all  beings. 
But  who  would  dare  to  deny  it  if  I  should  find  out 
somebody  yet  more  wretched  than  they  ?    And  such 


fficacy 
Jorncd 
bones ; 

When 
:leanly 

extin- 
1  of  it, 

in  his 
le  pos- 
gle  are 
One  of 
;  to  the 
id  also 

of  the 

ititions, 

jhteous 

veil  be 

Christ- 

Qndage 

Egede 

British 

ing  his 

these 

which 

3  car  to 

sc  this 

which 
as  the 
beings, 
nd  out 
d  such 


THEIR    RELIGIOUS   IDEAS   AND   SUPERSTITIONS.      1 33 

there  are  who  have  been  blessed  with  a  true  know- 
ledge of  God,  yet  do  nevertheless  refuse  Him  that 
obedience,  which  as  our  Creator  and  Master,  and  in 
regard  of  our  redemption  and  a  thousand  other 
particular  kindnesses,  He  has  the  best  of  titles  to 
demand,  according  as  He  requires  it  of  us  in  His 
Holy  Word.  If  the  life  of  the  Grccnlanders,  which 
we  call  poor  and  des[)icablc,  with  respect  to  moral- 
ity, be  compared  to  that  of  the  most  pretended 
Christians,  I  am  afraid  they  will  confound  them  in 
the  Day  of  Judgment.  For  though  they  have  no 
law,  yet,  by  the  light  of  nature,  they  do  some  of  the 
works  of  the  law,  as  the  Apostle  says  in  Romans  ii. 

"  What  thoughts  will  any  one  harbour  who  seriously 
considers  the  predominant  passions,  as  greediness 
after  gain,  covetousnrss,  unmeasured  ambition,  and 
pride,  sumptuous,  voluptuous,  and  prodigal  lives,  every 
hatred  and  mutual  persecutions  and  innumerable 
other  vices  and  crimes  of  most  Christians  ?  Can  any 
one  help  thinking  that  such  evildoers  (the  remotest 
from  the  life  vvhich  is  God  alone)  must  be  deemed  the 
most  unhappy  of  all  ?  Whilst  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Greenlanders  pass  their  lives,  as  I  may  say,  in  mutual 
innocence  and  simplicity.  Their  desires  do  not 
extend  further  than  to  necessary  things ;  pomp  and 
pride  is  unknown  to  them  ;  hatred,  envy,  and  persecu- 
tion never  plagued  them  ;  neither  do  they  affect  the 
dominion  one  over  another.  In  short,  every  one  is 
contented  with  his  own  state  and  condition,  and  is 
not  tormented  with  unnecessary  cares. 

"Is  this  not  the  greatest  happiness  in  this  life ?  O 
happy  people !  What  better  things  can  one  wish  you 
than  what  you  already  possess  ?    Have  you  no  riches  ? 


134 


AMID   GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


yet  poverty  does  not  trouble  you.  Have  you  no 
superfluity?  yet  you  suffer  no  want.  Is  there  no 
pomp  or  pride  to  be  seen  among  you  ?  Neither  is 
there  any  slight  or  scorn  to  be  met  with.  Is  there  no 
nobility  or  rank  among  you  ?  Neither  is  there  any 
slavery  or  bondage.  What  is  sweeter  than  liberty? 
And  what  is  happier  than  contentedness  ?  But  one 
thing  is  yet  wanting.  I  mean  the  saving  knowledge 
of  God,  and  His  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  in  which 
alone  consists  eternal  life  and  happiness.  And 
this  is  what  we  offer  you  in  preaching  to  you  the 
Holy  Gospel !  Now  God,  who  bade  light  to  shine 
forth  in  darkness,  enlighten  your  hearts  in  the  light  of 
the  knowledge  of  God's  glorious  appearance  through 
Christ  Jesus ;  may  He  deliver  your  souls  from  the 
serving  of  the  devil,  and  of  sinful  lusts  as  you  are  free 
from  corporeal  bondage,  to  the  end  that  you  always 
may  be  free  with  the  Lord,  both  in  soul  and  body. 
Amen." 


;fJ|^fe.!^^^-iiii;BH»i: 


.iuiBiw>.        ..,  II       I       ["il^^f^'^'     III    I 


Ml  ■:!)!.   .::. 

.."«|tii«Biiii-«'r"'<.tB!^.-*':");.;..  s 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   STORY  OF   KAJARNAK. 

"  He  touched  his  eyes  and  there  was  light, 
He  filled  his  heart  with  love  Divine, 
And  all  his  powers  with  new  delight 
And  heavenly  radiance  do  shine." 

HITHERTO  the  work  in  Greenland,  as  far  as 
the  Moravian  Brethren  were  concerned,  had 
the  disadvantage  of  being  represented  only 
by  men.  The  importance  of  a  Christian 
woman,  who  should  undertake  to  bring  her  own  sex 
among  the  Greenlanders  under  the  influence  of  the 
Gospel,  had  been  verified  in  the  case  of  the  devoted 
wife  of  Hans  Egede.  What  she  had  been  to  her 
husband  in  the  perilous  and  self-denying  labour,  to 
which  he  had  devoted  his  life,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
estimate.  Her  husband  spoke  very  touchingly  of  her 
character  after  her  lamented  death.  Specially  he 
laid  stress  upon  the  patient  faithfulness  with  which 
she  stood  by  him,  when  hard  pressed  and  tried. 
Referring  to  the  time  when  they  first  came  out,  he 
says,  "Though  friends  and  relations  vehemently  impor- 

135 


' 


136 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


tuned  her,  that  if  she  had  any  regard  for  her  own,  for 
mine,  or  for  our  small  children's  temporal  welfare,  she 
should  dissuade  and  withstand  me  in  this  project,  so 
absurd  and  frantic  in  the  eyes  of  all  men  ;  yet,  out  of 
love  to  God  and  me,  she  was  induced  to  join  heart 
and  hand  with  me  in  my  undertaking,  and  like  a 
faithful  Sarah,  to  go  with  her  Abraham  from  her  own 
people  and  from  her  father's  house,  not  to  some 
paradise,  but  to  a  strange  and.  disagreeable  heathen 
land."  Woman's  work  in  the  mission  field  is  an  ele- 
ment of  admitted  value  to-day,  and  it  was  highly 
esteemed  then,  when  one  of  the  ships  brought,  as  new 
auxiliaries,  the  mother  of  Matthew  Stach,  a  widow 
of  forty-five  years,  and  her  two  daughters,  Rosin  a, 
aged  twenty-two,  and  Anna,  twelve,  to  the  colony 
of  New  Herrnhut.  These  new  and  welcome  arrivals 
soon  set  to  work  putting  the  domestic  house  in  order, 
which  no  doubt  greatly  required  the  touch  of  a 
woman's  hand.  They  then  began  to  study  the 
language  in  earnest,  and  soon  were  able  to  speak  to 
the  Greenland  women  in  the  settlement.  If  they  had 
imagined,  however,  that  the  natives  would  be  equally 
pleased  to  receive  them,  they  speedily  found  out  their 
mistake,  for  the  Greenlanders  seemed  at  that  time  to 
persecute  the  Brethren  with  bitter  animosity.  They 
taunted  them  for  their  poverty,  and  when  in  reply  the 
missionaries  assured  them  that  they  had  not  come  for 
any  outward  advantages,  for  money,  or  food,  or  drink- 
ing, but  for  their  souls'  sake,  to  teach  them  the  will 
of  God,  they  shouted  :  "  Illivse  Ajokarsaromarpisiguttl' 
which  meant,  "Fine  fellows,  indeed,  to  be  our  teachers! 
We  know  very  well  that  you  yourselves  are  ignorant, 
and  must  learn  your  lesson  off  others." 


THE   STORY   OF   KAJARNAK. 


137 


The  Brethren,  like  the  Society  of  Friends,  met  this 
ill-usage  with  the  policy  of  non-resistance.  They 
were  indeed  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves,  and  like 


MATTHEW  STACH. 


the  early  Christians,  when,  beset  by  the  pagan  ferocity 
of  their  day,  they  suffered  humbly  for  Christ's  sake. 
Their  assailants  pelted  them  with  stones,  climbed 
upon  their  backs,  and  offered  them  every  conceivable 


I3« 


AMID   CRKKNI.ANI)   SNOWS. 


!  ! 


•M 


insult,  ,'uul  took  dcH}.(ht  in  hrc'iKin};  cvxTytliinjj  witli- 
iii  reach  in  their  dweMinf^js ;  one  nij^'ht,  indeed,  tiicy 
had  a  very  narrow  escape  of  their  h'ves.  They  had 
taken  shelter  in  their  tent,  atul  finding  someone  out- 
side cuttiu};  the  skins  which  curtained  tlu^ir  retreat, 
they  hurried  forth  to  find  a  number  of  Grcenlanders 
with  naked  knives  in  their  hands.  They  were  after- 
wards told  that  the  attack  was  an  orj^anised  conspiracy 
to  take  their  lives  while  asleep.  Complaints  were 
now  made  to  the  F.ictor  of  the  Danish  settlement  of 
Good  Hope,  who  admonished  the  natives  and  warned 
them  of  the  conseciuenccs  of  their  perfidy  to  the 
Hrethren  at  New  Ilerrnhut.  Ihit,  such  a  recei)tion 
was  very  disheartening,  and  their  faith  was  .sorely 
tried.  With  mecknes.s,  endurinj^  and  bravely  workinj.j 
on,  they  seemed  at  times  to  be  spending  their  .strenj;th 
for  naught.  Then  God  would  jjrant  them  a  j^lint  of 
liyjht,  shining  through  the  dark  cloud  of  disappoint- 
ment. Thus  wc  find  one  of  the  l^rethrcn,  in  his 
letter  home  in  the  summer  of  1736,  gratefully  recorded 
this  fact : — ■ 

"  On  4th  May  we  went  to  the  Sound  to  pierce  cat- 
fish with  a  prong,  and  pitched  our  tent  adjoining  to 
four  Greenland  tents.  Hut  they  soon  decamped  and 
fled  farther  because  they  did  not  like  our  being  there. 
While  wo  were  fishing  on  the  7th,  a  perfectly  .strange 
heathen,  who  arrived  this  spring  fifty  leagues  off  from 
the  South,  came  to  us  and  desired  to  sec  our  things. 
Wc  showed  what  things  we  had,  supposing  that  he 
wanted  to  barter  some  Greenland  food  for  our  iron 
ware.  But  he  remained  quite  still  for  a  while.  At 
length  he  said  he  had  been  with  the  Pellcsse  (which  is 
their  way  of  pronouncing  the  Danish  word  Pracst  or 


TIIK   STOKV    OK    KAIAKNAK. 


139 


ininistci)  who  had  lold  him  wonderful  Ihin^rs  of  One 
tliat  hey  said  had  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  was 
called  Giui.  iJid  we  know  anything' about  it  ?  Ifwc 
did  we  should  tell  him  something  m(jre,  because  he 
had  forgot  a  ^'reat  deal  since.  This  made  a  deep 
impression  on  us,  and  we  lold  him  as  well  as  wc 
could  of  the  creation  of  man  and  the  intent  thereof,  of 
the  fall  and  corru[)tion  of  nature,  of  the  redemption 
effected  by  Christ,  of  the  resurrection  of  all  men  and 
eternal  happiness  or  damn.ition.  He  listened  very 
attentively  to  all  that  was  said,  stayed  at  our  cveninfj 
meeting',  and  sle[)t  all  night  in  our  tent. 

'*  Now,  dear  brethren,  this  is  the  first  Greenlander 
that  has  come  to  inquire  of  us  concernijig  God  and 
Divine  things  ;  those  in  the  neighbourhood  have  done 
no  such  thing,  though  spiritual  writings  have  been 
read  to  them  so  many  years.  Therefore  bring  your 
offerings  and  prayers  before  the  Lord  that  lie  may 
arise  and  build  His  Zion  even  on  this  desert." 

The  sparscncss  of  results  had  caused  some  to  lose 
heart  at  home  about  the  work,  and  a  writer  in 
mockery  applied  to  the  Greenland  brethren  the  words 
of  the  ancient  poet : — 

'*  Nos  nunicros  fiiimis  tl  frugcs  consumcrc  nati." 

It  is  related  that  when  this  taunt  was  seen  by 
Count  Zinzendorf  he  spread  the  criticism  before  the 
Lord  as  Ilezckiah  did  his  letter,  and  prayed  earnestly 
that  ITe  would  remove  the  rei)roach  from  the  brethren 
who  were  witnessing  for  the  faith  in  Greenland.  His 
prayer  was  shortly  answered  in  a  remarkable  con- 
version. The  Brethren  in  their  work  at  New 
Hcrrnhut  had  to  contend  with  a  difficulty  which  did 


140 


AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 


not  stand  in  the  way  of  Egcdc.  Many  of  the  Green- 
landers  had  for  years  h'ved  near  the  Danish  Settle- 
ment at  Halls  River,  and  had  heard  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  so  often  that,  instead  of  being  wise  unto 
salvation,  their  teaching  had  made  them  harder, 
they  were  ready  enough  to  listen  to  any  of  the 
stories  out  of  the  liible,  but  when  the  personal 
application  came,  and  the  missionaries  urged  upon 
them  the  need  of  repentance  and  a  saving  knowledge 
of  Jesus  Christ,  they  grew  inattentive  and  began  to 
excuse  themselves  by  saying  that  the  truth  was 
beyond  their  comprehension.  How  remarkable  is 
the  unity  of  unbelief  as  well  as  of  faith  in  all  ages, 
will  be  seen  by  the  following  reply  which  these  poor 
Greenlanders  gave,  reasoning  why  they  should  take 
up  and  be  satisfied  with  what  we  should  call  in  our 
enlightened  day  the  Agnostic  question  as  regards 
religion. 

"  Show  us  the  God  you  describe,  then  we  will  believe 
in  Him  and  .serve  Him?  You  represent  Him  too 
sublime  and  incomprehensible ;  how  shall  we  come  at 
Him?  Neither  will  He  trouble  Himself  about  us. 
We  have  invoked  Him  when  we  had  nothing  to  eat 
or  when  we  have  been  sick,  but  it  is  as  if  He  would 
not  hear  us.  We  think  what  you  say  of  Him  is  not 
true.  Or  if  you  know  Him  better  than  we,  then  do 
you  by  your  prayers  obtain  for  us  sufficient  food,  a 
healthy  body,  and  dry  house,  and  that  is  all  we  desire 
or  want.  Our  soul  is  healthy  already,  and  nothing  is 
wanting  if  we  have  but  a  sound  body  and  enough  to  eat. 
You  are  another  sort  of  folk  than  we ;  in  your  country 
people  may  perhaps  have  diseased  souls,  and,  indeed, 
we  see  instances  enough  in  those  that  come  here  that 


THE  STORY  OF  KAJARNAK. 


141 


they  are  good  for  nothing  ;  they  may  stand  in  need 
of  a  Saviour  and  of  a  Physician  for  the  soul.  Your 
heaven  and  your  spiritual  joys  and  felicities  may  be 
good  enough  for  you,  but  this  would  be  too  tedious 
for  us.  We  must  have  seals,  fishes,  and  birds.  Our 
soul  can  no  more  subsist  without  them  than  our 
bodies.  We  shall  not  find  these  in  your  heaven, 
therefore  we  will  leave  your  heaven  to  you  and  the 
worthless  part  of  the  Greenlanders ;  but,  as  for  us,  we 
will  go  down  to  Torngarsuk,  where  we  shall  find  an 
exuberance  of  everything  without  any  trouble." 

After  five  years'  toil  in  the  Greenland  field,  Christian 
Stach  returned  to  Europe  to  advocate  the  cause,  and 
the  youngest  of  the  remaining  missionaries,  Frederick 
Boehnish,  composed  some  verses  descriptive  of  their 
position  and  prospects.  This  poetry  may  not  be 
distinguished  by  any  extraordinary  merit  as  a  com- 
position, but  as  it  was  written  on  the  spot  by  one  of 
the  workers,  a  few  verses  deserve  to  be  rescued  from 
the  oblivion  of  the  past  and  find  a  place  in  these 
pages. 

"  Here  is  a  little  company, 
Who  through  Thy  grace  have  chosen  Thee, 
Who  count  the  tedious  hours  and  days, 
Till  Thou  diflfuse  Thy  cheering  rays  ; 
And  bid  us  let  these  heathen  know. 
Thy  grace,  Thy  choice,  enfolds  them  too, 
For  Thou  art  He,  the  Scripture  calls 
The  Si    .our,  promised  unto  souls. 


"  On  every  side,  their  hearts  are  hard, 
With  locks  and  bolts  secured  and  barred, 
If  we  accost  the  hoary  head, 
He  gives  no  ear  to  what  is  said  ; 


142  AMID  GREENLAND   SNOWS. 

Or  tell  the  children  of  the  star 
That  brought  the  wise  men  from  afar, 
To  see  the  Child  for  heathens  born, 
They  call  the  wise  men  fools  in  scorn. 

"  Yet  certainly,  'twould  be  a  shame 
To  see  no  more  of  that  love's  flame, 
Which  Jesus  felt  for  every  soul. 
Here  in  this  frigid,  northern  pole  ; 
Particularly,  since  we  stand 
United  in  the  Brethren's  band. 
O,  my  Immanuel,  no  land, 
Can  Thy  grace  at  this  hour  withstand." 


The  confidence  which  is  breathed  in  these  lines  was 
soon  to  be  justified,  and  the  faithful  few  at  New 
Herrnhut  would  have  cause  to  rejoice.  And  their 
labours  were  not  altogether  in  vain.  The  first  con- 
aversion  was  the  result  of  a  famine ;  the  seal  fishing 
had  everywhere  failed,  and  therefore  the  staple 
support  of  the  Greenlanders  was  taken  away,  so  that 
day  after  day  crowds  of  famishing  people  gathered 
at  the  door  of  the  mission-house  begging  for  bread. 
This  was  given  as  freely  as  their  limited  supplies 
would  allow.  Among  these  applicants  was  a  Green- 
lander  named  Mangek,  who  further  asked  permission 
to  live  with  the  Brethren  and  he  would  give  them  in 
exchange  all  the  fish  which  he  caught.  At  first  they 
were  suspicious  of  his  sincerity  and  quite  expected 
to  see  him  disappear  some  evening,  possibly  with 
some  of  their  provisions.  But  to  their  surprise  and 
joy  he  listened  eagerly  to  their  instruction,  and  it  was 
evident  that  God  had  begun  a  work  of  grace  in  his 
heart.  He  would  often  speak  to  them  of  the  love  of 
Jesus   until  the  tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks.     The 


THE  STORY  OF  KAJARNAK. 


143 


Brethren  rejoiced  that  in  this  stranger  they  were  now 
able  to  recognise  a  veritable  brother  in  the  Lord. 
But  the  conversion  of  Mangek  was  not  so  remark- 


JOHN    BECK  AND   KAJARNAK. 

able  as  that  which  shall  now  be  recorded.  One  of 
the  missionaries  who  had  come  out  from  Europe  with 
Frederick  Boehnish  was  John  Beck,  a  man  full  of  grace 


144 


AMID  (;kkkni,ani)  snows. 


aiul  spccijilly  valuable  in  havinjj;  rapidly  aaiuirccl  the 
(ircciilaiul  tonj^uc.  One  cvcniii}^  he  was  sitting  Im 
his  hut  patiently  translatiii}^  the  Iwan^elists  hen 
the  place  speedily  filled  with  a  number  ofGijen- 
landers  from  the  south.  They  were  curious  to  know 
what  was  in  tlie  book  upon  the  table.  IJeck  read  to 
them  some  passaj^es  out  of  the  IJible  referred  to,  ami 
after  a  few  words  of  explanation  asked  them  pointedly 
whether  they  believed  they  had  an  immortal  .soul. 
They  answered  "  Yes,  yes  ; "  and,  in  reply  to  another 
question,  they  told  him  that  when  their  bodies  died 
their  .souls  would  ^o  up  yonder  or  down  in  the 
abys.s — they  could  not  say  which.  Questioned  as  to 
tlic  creation  of  the  world,  they  told  the  nu'.ssionary 
that  they  had  never  heard  and  therefore  they  did  not 
know,  but  it  must  have  been  certainly  the  work  of 
a  ^reat  and  opulent  Lord.  Then  John  ]ieck  felt  his 
heart  j^reatly  moved  towards  these  simple  iiKpn'rers, 
and  preached  to  them  salvation  by  the  blood  of  Jesus. 
His  words  made  a  {^rcat  impression,  and  amid  pro- 
found silence  one  of  the  company,  Kajarnak  by  name, 
stepped  up  to  the  table  and  in  a  voice  trembling  with 
emotion  asked,  "I low  is  that?  Tell  mc  that  once 
more,  for  I  would  fain  be  saved  too." 

No  wonder  that  John  Heck,  in  telling  this  incident 
in  one  of  his  letters,  add.s,  *•  The.se  words,  the  like  of 
which  I  had  never  heard  from  a  Greenlander  before, 
penetrated  through  my  very  marrow  and  bone,  and 
kindled  my  soul  into  such  an  ardour  that  I  gave  the 
Grecnlandcrs  a  general  account  of  our  Saviour's 
whole  life  and  death,  and  of  the  counsel  of  God  for 
our  salvation,  while  the  tears  ran  down  my  cheeks." 
The  effects  of  his  words  were  varied ;  some  slipped 


Tlir,   STOKV   OK    KAJAKNAK. 


•45 


(luiclly  ;i\vay,  while  others  waiUd  willi  imploring  words 
llial  they,  too,  mi^ht  l)c  tau^Mit  to  pray  ami  receive 
Ji  bit  ssiii}^  from  (iod.  Kajarnak,  especially,  promised 
to  consider  these  thinj^s  and  come  another  ni^;ht, 
joined  in  the  i)rayers  with  the  Brethren,  and  next 
day  went  away  sayin^r  that  he  wcnild  now  j;o  to  his 
tent  and  tell  his  family,  and  i)articiilarly  his  little  son, 
what  ^Meat  th^^^^s  the  Lortl  had  done  lor  him.  "We 
discern,"  is  the  comment  of  the  missionary,  "  more  and 
more  that  Kajarnak  has  ^ot  a  hook  in  his  breast  that 
he  will  scarce  lose  aj^ain." 

I'Vom  this  time  he  became  ;i  regular  visitor  at  the 
mission-house,  and  as  a  result  of  his  testimony  and 
chan^^e  of  life  his  family  or  tent  companions,  nine  in 
number,  were  also  brought  to  Christ ;  and  three  whole 
families  of  his  friends  came  and  pitched  their  tents 
near  the  mission  buildings,  so  that  they  also  might 
hear  the  word  of  life.  Much  of  this  affect  ion  for  the 
brethren  and  the  truths  they  taught  did  not  appear 
very  lasting,  however,  as  many  of  these  natives  went 
away  at  the  time  of  the  reindeer  hunt  and  did  not 
return.  l*oor  Kajarnak  was  now  left,  almost  without 
the  means  of  subsistence ;  and  much  of  the  mocking 
taunts  which  the  brethren  had  endured  so  meekly, 
were  nou  turned  upon  him.  When  they  spoke 
despising^y  of  the  teachers  he  earnestly  replied, 
'•  And  yet  I  will  stay  with  them  and  hear  the  words 
of  God  which  have  now  tasted  so  well  to  me."  Ka- 
jarnak did  his  utmost  to  restrain  the  Greenlanders 
from  their  cruel  customs  and  superstitions ;  many  of 
them  the  Brethren  had  to  witness,  and  were  without 
power  to  prevent  them.  An  old  woman  had  died,  pre- 
sumably, one  night,  and  her  son  according  to  their 

K 


146 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


custom  tied  her  up  in  a  skin.  She  began  to  cry  out, 
and  three  times  he  released  her  to  see  whether  she 
were  really  alive,  and  finally  let  her  loose  because  the 
missionary  entreated  him  to  do  so  ;  but  afterwards  she 
was  bound  again  and  buried  alive.  It  was  observed 
that  afterwards  t'ney  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  the 
snow  everywhere  as  they  drew  her  along  that  her 
spirit  might  not  come  back  to  disturb  them.  A 
strange  relic  evidently  of  some  old  Christian  tradi- 
tion from  the  ancient  colony  of  Northmen. 

After  careful  preparation,  for  these  Brethren  were  in 
no  hurry  to  make  their  converts  profess  too  speedily, 
Kajarnak  and  his  family  were  admitted  by  the  ordi- 
nances of  baptism  into  the  Christian  Church  and  fellow- 
ship on  Easter  Day,  1739,  and  the  scene  is  thus 
briefly  but  strikingly  described  by  the  chronicler : — 

"The  minister  first  asked  them  before  the  whole 
assembly  the  ground  of  the  hope  that  was  in  them, 
which  they  gave  a  simple  account  of,  and  promised 
with  their  heart  and  tongue  to  renounce  all  heathen- 
ism, to  abide  with  their  teachers,  and  to  walk  worthy 
of  the  Gospel.  Thus  these  four  first  fruits  of  the 
Greenland  natives  were  declared  free  from  the  powers 
of  darkness,  and  d'^voted  to  their  lawful,  proper  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  during  a  powerful  prayer 
and  imposition  of  hands,  and  thereupon  were  embodied 
with  the  Christian  Church  by  baptism  into  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Kajarnak  received  the  name  Samuel,  his  wife 
Anna,  his  son  Matthew,  and  his  daughter  Aima.  An 
amazing  grace  prevailed  during  the  transactions,  not 
only  in  the  hearts  of  those  then  baptised,  whose  tears 
dropped   like  rain,   but   also   of  the   beholders,  who 


THE  STORY  OF   KAJAUNAK. 


H7 


wished  to  be  in  like  manner  partakers  of  the  same 
blessing,  with  the  hopes  of  which  they  were  comforted, 
after  being  exhorted  to  surrender  up  their  hearts  to 
the  Spirit  of  God.  The  word  for  the  day  was  very 
significant,  being  Ezek.  xxxvii,  26,  27  and  28,  "  I  will 
make  a  covenant  of  peace  with  them  ;  it  shall  be  an 
everlasting  covenant  with  them :  and  I  will  place  them, 
and  multiply  them,  and  will  set  my  sanctuary  in  the 
midst   of  them  for  evermore.      My   tabernacle   also 


JOHN   BECKS   BIBLE.     ^ 

shall  be  with  them  :  yea,  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they 
shall  be  my  people.  And  the  heathen  shall  know 
that  I  the  Lord  do  sanctify  Israel,  when  my  sanctuary 
shall  be  in  the  midst  of  them  for  evermore." 

Scarcely  had  this  solemn  dedication  taken  place 
when  the  event  occurred  which  seemed  for  a  time  to 
destroy  the  happiness  of  the  new  converts.  News 
came  to  the  Mission  that  a  band  of  murderers  from 
the  north  had  killed  the  brother-in-law  of  Kajarnak. 


r 


148 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


Under  some  deception  they  decoyed  him  into  the  sea 
at  Kangck,  and  stabbed  him  to  death  with  their  har- 
poons. Not  only  so  but  they  openly  threatened  to  do 
the  same  to  Kajarnak,  and  any  of  those  in  the  Mission 
colony.  Amid  great  consternation  the  ringleader  of 
the  band  and  some  of  his  followers  were  brought  to 
justice  by  the  Europeans,  and  although  he  confessed 
three  other  murders  they  exercised  great  clemency  in 
simply  reading  to  him  the  twelve  commandments,  and 
setting  him  free  again  with  a  warning.  Kajarnak, 
however,  was  greatly  alarmed,  and  against  the  urgent 
entreaties  of  his  friends  he  insisted  on  leaving  New 
Herrnhut  to  conduct  the  brother  of  the  murdered  man 
in  safety  to  the  south.  When  he  went  they  com- 
mended him  to  God  with  many  tears,  and  were  grieved 
to  see  that  nearly  all  his  people  departed  with  him. 
For  a  whole  year  he  was  absent,  but  during  that  time, 
and  on  his  return,  he  very  earnestly  testified  among 
his  fellow  Greenlanders  what  good  things  the  Lord 
had  done  for  his  soul.  On  one  occasion  when  he  was 
invited  by  some  natives  to  join  in  a  dance  at  the  sun 
feast,  when  they  welcome  back  the  long  lost  sun,  his 
reply  was  :  "  I  have  now  another  kind  of  joy,  because 
another  Sun,  namely  Jesus,  is  arisen  in  my  heart. 
Neither  have  I  any  time  for  it,  for  I  must  hasten  to  my 
teachers,  who  will  soon  have  a  great  festival  to  rejoice 
that  the  Creator  of  all  things  was  born  into  the  world 
as  a  poor  child  to  redeem  us." 

They  were  astonished  at  his  words,  but  tried  a 
second  time  to  persuade  him,  seeing  that  he  had  been 
in  times  past  such  a  master  of  the  art  of  dancing.  But 
he  said  :  "  You  should  rather  lay  to  heart  what  I  have 
told  you,  for  I  was  quite  in  earnest." 


THE  STORY  OF   KAJARNAK. 


149 


His  useful  and  faithful  witnessing  was  soon,  how- 
ever, to  end.     In  the  midst  of  his  work  he  was  taken 
suddenly  ill,  the  result  of  a  severe  cold.     The  Brethren 
seeing  his  condition  hurried  to  his  aid.     Their  diary 
has  the  following  entry  thereupon  : — "  During  our  dis- 
course he  grew  so  faint  he  could  neither  hear  nor  sec. 
We  prayed  with  him,  and  during  the  prayer  he  came 
again  to  himself,  and  directly  began  himself  to  pray 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  acute   pains,  so  heartily 
and  confidently,  that  we  and  all   the  Greenlanders, 
standing  about  him,  were   amazed.    After  that  he 
found   some   mitigation.      He   was   again   seized   so 
violently  that  his  breathing  was  often  quite  stopped. 
Yet  amid  the  greatest  agonies  his  carriage  and  mien 
was   composed   and   solid,  and   when   his   domestics 
would  talk  to  him  about  earthly  affairs,  he  desired 
them  not  to  encumber  his  heart  with  such  things,  for 
he  had  our  Saviour  constantly  in  his  heart  and  mind. 
When  they  once  began  to  weep,  he  said :  '  Don't  be 
grieved  about  me.     Have  you  not  often  heard  that 
believers  when  they  die  go  to  our  Saviour  and  par- 
take of  His  eternal  joy?    You  know  that  I  am  the 
first  of  you  that  was  converted  by  our  Saviour,  and 
now  it  is  His  will  that  I  should  be  the  first  to  go  to 
Him.     If  you  are  faithful  to  the  end  we  shall  see  one 
another   again  before  the  throne  of  the  Lord,  and 
rejoice  for  ever  at  the  grace  He  has  conferred  on  us.' " 

After  only  six  days'  illness  he  passed  peacefully  to 
his  rest,  and  four  Greenland  boys  carried  him  to  the 
new  burying-place  of  the  colony,  and  by  the  grave 
the  whole  company  knelt,  while  one  of  them  spoke 
from  the  text,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life." 


I!). 


I  i 


1 

i:  I 


VIKW  OV   I.ICllTKNFELS   IN   OREEN'l.AND. 

CHAPTER  XI. 
god's  work  goes  on. 

"  From  duty's  post,  He  beckoned  to  their  rest 
The  weary  workers,  glad  to  seek  repose  ; 
While  others  filled  their  place  with  quickened  zeal, 
And  thus  the  fabric  of  His  purpose  rose." 

IN  the  spring"  of  the  year,  1747,  the  h'ttlc  Christian 
community  at  New  Herrnhut  built  their  first 
church,  the  wooden  framework  of  which,  wrought 
by  loving  hands  at  home,  was  carefully  brought 
from  Europe.  This,  their  first  permanent  place  of 
worship,  proved  invaluable,  for  they  were  now  able  to 
gather  within  its  walls  quite  three  hundred  persons. 
To  the  natives  it  was  a  marvellous  structure,  for  the 
Greenland  religion  had  no  notion  of  public  gatherings 
for  worship.  The  missionaries  aimed  now  to  arrange 
and  consolidate  their  po.sition,  and  utilise  the  native 
workers  who  had  been  baptised,  and  who  were  showing 
150 


I 


'■'$■ 


I 


god's  work  goes  on. 


151 


both  a  desire  and  a  fitness  for  helpfulness  in  the  con- 
version of  others.  In  this  little  church  of  believers, 
whatever  other  things  they  had  to  contend  with,  pride 
was  scarcely  a  temptation,  for  all  were  alike  poor, 
and  living  from  hand  to  mouth  upon  the  hazardous 
fishery  on  the  coast.  But  theirs  was  the  discipline  of 
sufferinnr  together,  and  the  trials  they  bore  produced 
a  spiv't  r  fellowship  and  brotherly  love.  These 
trouble;  ^^    -.j  ever  recurring. 

The  winters  of  1752  and  1753  were  terribly  cold, 
even  for  Greenland.  The  Danish  settlement  of 
Egede's  Minde  (in  memory  of  Egedc)  suffered  much, 
but  the  weather  seems  to  have  been  still  worse  at 
New  Herrnhut.  The  oldest  native  could  not  re- 
member such  a  time  before.  All  the  inlets  were  a 
solid  mass  of  ice,  so  that  the  kayaks  could  not  float, 
and  for  weeks  the  cold  was  so  keen  that  the  Green- 
landers  were  afraid  to  venture  from  the  shelter  of 
their  houses  of  snow,  lest  they  should  be  frozen  to 
death  in  the  open.  Then  a  fearful  hurricane  swept 
over  the  district,  carrying  all  before  it  like  chaff;  and 
in  its  wake  followed  a  pestilence  which  laid  low 
hundreds  of  these  afflicted  people. 

Still  they  bore  their  woes  with  the  patience  God 
gives  to  men.  The  survivors  went  about  with  the 
missionaries  doing  what  they  could  for  their  fellows. 
Extreme  cold  had  driven  the  people  to  retreat  to  the 
inmost  part  of  their  houses,  and  in  one  of  these  small 
places  fifteen  were  found  piled  one  upon  another  to  keep 
themselves  warm,  and  were  so  faint  with  hunger  that 
they  could  not  speak  to  those  who  came  to  help  them. 

Through  the  death  of  so  many  adults  at  this  time, 
the  Mission  had  to  make  .some  certain  provision  for 


! 


152 


AMID  (IKKKNLANI)   SNOWS. 


the  orphan  children,  whom  they  cared  for,  and  tauj^ht 
useful  trades  as  they  f^rcw  up.  These  missionaries 
were  bcinj^  j^laddened  by  many  cases  of  real  conver- 
sion. A  notable  case  was  that  of  a  man  named 
Kaii<ack,  who,  so  far  back  as  1739,  heard  the  jjood 
news  of  a  Saviour's  love  from  the  lircthren  who  were 
then  new  to  their  work  in  the  country.  lie  was  of 
what  is  considered  a  noble  family,  that  is  to  .say 
he  could  boast  of  a  father,  [grandfather,  and  f^reat- 
pf  rand  father  who  had  been  renowned  seal  catchers. 
Thou^tjh  much  impressed  by  what  he  had  heard,  he 
Wcxs  not  prepared  to  risk  his  reputation  by  joining 
what  was  the  sect  everywhere  spoken  ajjfainst.  1^'or 
in  Greenland,  as  in  Greece,  and  most  places  of  re- 
spectability elsewhere,  a  profession  of  Christianity,  pure 
and  undefiled,  was  not  fashionable.  Kainack,  to  rid 
his  conscience  of  these  prickinj^s,  rushed  into  a  wild 
and  disgraceful  manner  of  life.  He  was  specially 
bitter  a^jainst  the  teachers  of  the  relij^ion  which  had 
so  unsettled  him  ;  beat  their  converts  when  he  could 
get  the  chance,  and  on  one  occasion  threatened  the 
missionaries  with  death  by  fire  if  they  did  not  deliver 
up  to  him  a  poor  woman  who  had  fled  to  them  for 
protection  against  his  violence.  However,  it  turned 
out  in  the  providence  of  God  that  this  same  woman 
was  to  be  the  means  of  his  salvation.  She  became 
his  wife,  brought  him  to  the  meetings,  and  he  was 
soundly  converted  to  God.  They  were  baptised  to- 
gether by  the  Ikethren,  and  his  next  step  was  to  bring 
to  the  settlement  his  servants  and  relations  to  hear 
the  same  Gospel,  which  in  his  own  life  and  character 
had  proved  such  a  saving  power.  They  in  turn  were 
so  affected,  that  most  of  them  presented  themselves 


of 


g 


w                -W 

1'  E 

O                                     '^^ 

l]^ 

".                i>;?. 

'I'il 

«"                       ';!'!■■ 

■'IIP 

K          -V;^:^;:;. 

^ 

5«        ,1-1  ■  A 

li^M 

R 

o        .  ..;i;:i,  ■  • 

iT/ 

P)           ';";f.':'. 

'.'"'■    i 

M 

''iii,iii 

as                 •:    i-, 

v.y.iii\1 

:3                .■  .  'i 

M                       •!...•, 

s5          ■v'.;:;.:,,!,' 

''^ 

fll 

«                 i 

PT 

?»             -I 

F  II 

153 


•' 


god's  work  r'M.:s  on. 


155 


for  baptism.  K.iin.ick  lived  a  viuict  and  consistent 
life,  the  old  si)irit  of  recklessness  beinj,'  driven  out  of 
him  ;  and  when  his  death  came  suddenly,  there  was 
^reat  lamentation  as  for  a  brother  ^M'catly  beloved. 

The  (ireenland  Christians  showed  their  sincerity  by 
a  readiness  to  sympathise  with  their  fellow-members 
elsewhere.  News  came  to  New  Ilcrrnhut  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Brethren's  settlement  at  Guaden- 
hiitten,  ainon<,'  the  North  American  Indians.  When 
*  they  were  told  in  the  church  meeting  of  the  sufferin«^s 
and  ])overty  of  the  Indians  they  broke  into  loud  weep- 
in}^,  and  rose  up  one  after  another  to  offer  help. 
"I  have  a  fine  reindeer  skin,"  says  one,  "which  I 
will  ^nve."  "And  I,"  .said  another,  " will  send  them 
these  warm  boots,"  while  a  third  offered  a  .seal,  his 
sole  treasure,  as  somethinij  for  them  both  to  eat  and 
burn.  Iwcrywhcre  there  were  sij^ns  of  religious 
awakening. 

The  missionaries  now  began  to  look  further  afield 
to  establish  a  second  .settlement.  Matthew  Stach, 
who  had  retired  to  Copenhagen  from  the  work  to 
spend  his  last  years  in  peace,  hearing  of  their  need, 
volunteered  to  go  back  to  Greenland  to  help  the 
lirethren,  and  in  1758  came,  with  two  brothers,  to 
l^'isher's  Hay,  where  they  laid  the  foundations  of 
Lichtenfel.s,  or  "the  Light  of  the  Rock."  Once  more 
the  story  of  the  hardships  of  pioneer  work  were 
endured.  An  earthquake  shook  the  ground,  tempests 
of  drifting  ice  threatened  the  settlement  with  destruc- 
tion, and  one  day  about  Christmas-time,  when  the  sun 
was  shining  in  sijlendour,  huge  balls  of  fire  flashed 
through  the  air,and  falling  on  the  earth  burned  furiously 
for  some  time.     This  was  hardly  an  acceptable  place 


156 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


to  make  a  home  in,  one  would  affirm,  and  yet  it 
became  a  very  Bethel  as  time  passed  on.  Within  a 
year,  two  hundred  persons  had  come  to  live  there, 
and  the  work  of  God  wonderfully  prospered.  The 
sailors  who  came  to  the  trading  station  near,  said  that 
the  Greenlanders  acted  much  more  like  Christians 
than  the  Europeans  at  home.  Here  is  a  little  peep 
into  one  of  their  meetings,  as  seen  through  the  tele- 
scope of  the  chronicle  of  Crantz. 

"  Grace  powerfully  approved  itself  among  them,  and 
preserved  them  in  obedience,  love  and  peace  together. 

"  Everyone  comes  to  it  with  eagerness  of  heart.  In 
the  evening  meeting  our  dear  Saviour  was  exceeding 
near  to  us.  When  I  had  done  speaking,  some  people 
propounded  several  questions,  the  explication  of 
which,  and  the  relation  of  many  circumstances,  took 
up  more  time  than  the  discourse  itself.  The  text 
was  Acts  xvii.  30 :  '  The  times  of  this  ignorance  God 
winked  at ;  but  now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere 
to  repent^ 

"Some  new  hymns  were  also  translated.  When 
they  were  made  known,  an  uncommon  desire  to  learn 
them,  and  a  blessed  operation  upon  their  hearts,  was 
visible.  The  most  of  them  were  taken  out  of  the 
meditations  of  the  ever  memorable  Count  Christian 
Renatus  de  Zinzendorf, found  after  his  happy  departure, 
such  as,  'Though  my  poverty's  unf?'' omable,  etc' 
'My  heart's  inclination  is  a  deep  pi  oration  at  my 
Saviour's  pain,  etc.,'  and  in  particular  the  hymn, 

"  *  The  impression  deep  of  what  my  Friend 
Has  done  for  me,  for  me. 
How  true  to  me  his  heart 's  inclined, 
Be  ever  seen  in  me  ! 


god's  work  goes  on.  157 

*  He  knows  that  where  I  all  my  days 
Through  lonely  places  toss'd, 
Still  of  that  sweet  Jesus  likeness, 
Nought  thereby  would  be  lost.' " 

"This  last  was  of  singular  weight  to  the  Green- 
landers,  and  was  often  sung  by  them  with  wet  eyes, 
when  they  were  obliged  in  the  summer  to  be  away 
from  their  teachers,  and  to  spend  whole  weeks,  nay, 
months,  alone  upon  an  island,  or  at  least,  with  no 
other  company  than  that  of  heathens.  In  such  cases  it 
is  very  certain  that  nothing  but  the  continual  remem- 
brance of  what  God  has  bestowed  upon  us,  and 
the  sweet  wondrous  deed  which  He  performed  in 
paying  such  a  costly  price  for  us,  is  able  to  pre- 
serve a  heart  from  indifference,  levity,  and  being  swept 
away  by  the  torrent  of  sin  in  the  world." 

If  this  was  the  happy  state  of  the  believers  at 
Lichtenfels,  surely  the  effect  of  the  Gospel  upon  the 
unconverted  was  not  less  marked.  Crantz,  then  on 
a  visit  to  Greenland  for  the  purpose  of  writing  his 
history,  witnessed  with  interest  the  spiritual  struggle 
going  on  in  the  hearts  of  the  listeners.  "  It  shocked 
me,"  he  said,  "to  see  many  of  them  pierced  to  the 
heart,  so  that  they  trembled,  snuffed  and  blew  like  a 
frightened  deer,  and,  sometimes  like  a  man  in  strong 
convulsions,  tugged  their  coat  and  boots  in  order  to 
stifle  their  convictions ;  and  as  soon  as  \he  preaching 
was  over  ran  off  in  haste  lest  the  subject  should  be 
more  closely  applied  to  them." 

The  next  extension  of  the  work  was  the  establishing 
of  Lichtenau,  a  more  southern  settlement,  not  far 
from  Cape  Farewell ;  the  first  Brethren  to  take  charge 
thereof  being  John  Soerensen  and  Gottfried  Grillich. 


158 


AMID  GREENLAND  SNOWS. 


'i  : 


r: 


The  former  after  forty-nine  years  of  faithful  service 
returned  to  Europe  in  his  eightieth  year,  the  other 
remaining  some  time  afterwards  in  the  work. 

lirother  Ikodersen,  who  acted  as  superintendent  of 
the  whole  Mission,  brought  a  printing  press  with  him, 
and  struck  off  copies  of  portions  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  also  some  hymns  in  the  Greenland  tongue. 

That  faithful  missionary  Frederick  Bochnish,  after 
twenty-nine  years  of  labour  in  the  Greenland  mission- 
field,  died  on  the  29th  of  July,  1763,  and  was  the  first 
missionary  whose  body  was  committed  to  the  earth 
in  that  country.  The  following  is  an  extract  from 
the  record  of  his  last  hours: — "On  the  12th  July, 
attempting,  in  company  witli  a  Greenlander,  to  use 
some  exercise,  and  to  take  some  fresh  air  in  a  field, 
as  he  was  descending  from  a  rock,  he  was  seized  with 
a  dizziness,  and  falling  down,  was  wounded  in  the 
head.  He  was  now  obliged  to  take  to  his  bed.  He 
soon  signified  not  only  his  desire,  but  likewise  his  full 
assurance  that  he  should  soon  go  home ;  he  sighed 
often  to  our  Saviour,  but  was  composed  and  happy, 
though  he  could  not  speak  much.  But  in  the  night 
of  1 6th  July,  he  seemed  to  recover  his  vivacity  and 
speech,  so  as  to  be  able  to  converse  with  his  colleague, 
who  watched  with  him,  about  several  matters.  He 
then  called  for  his  wife,  who  was  also  sick,  and  had 
a  hearty,  meek,  and  humble  conversation  with  her, 
recommending  her  and  their  children  to  the  care  and 
protection  of  the  Lord,  and  at  last  laid  his  hand  on 
her,  and  his  youngest  son,  lately  born,  and  imparted 
his  blessing  to  them.  We  presented  him  some  bread 
and  wine  for  refreshment ;  this  made  him  recollect 
the  great  grace  and  favour  of  having  administered 


cod's  work  goes  on. 


159 


the  Sacrament  to  the  bf^Heving  Grccnlandcrs,  and 
at  the  same  time,  he  most  ardently  implored  our 
Saviour's  pardon  for  every  omission  in  his  office  and 
calling.  And  when  his  colleague  put  him  in  mind  of 
our  Saviour's  gentleness  and  tenderness,  he  replied, 
*  Oh,  yes  !  that  is  true,  so  He  has  ever  approved  Him- 
self to  me.'  From  that  time,  he  spent  the  remaining 
moments  in  still  conversations  with  his  Lord,  of  which 
we  could  understand  some  broken  sentences.  *  Our 
Saviour  pays  me  frequent  visits,  and  will  soon  fetch 
me  home.' 

"  24th  July,  he  received  the  Holy  Sacrament  for  the 
last  time,  and  then  lay  mostly  in  a  constant  slumber 
till  28th  July,  when  he  once  more  joined  in  singing 
some  verses,  treating  of  the  happiness  of  being  with 
the  Lord. 

"  On  the  29th  July,  he  said  with  a  broken  voice, '  My 
dear  Saviour  is  now  come  to  take  me  home,'  and  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  moment  came  when 
he  gave  up  his  soul  unto  his  faithful  Creator  and 
Redeemer,  during  a  happy  departure— liturgy  held 
by  the  Brethren  present — in  the  54th  year  of  his  age, 
twenty-nine  years  of  which  he  had  spent  in  the 
service  of  the  Greenland  congregation,  and  twenty- 
three  in  a  contented  and  happy  marriage,  which  had 
been  blessed  with  eight  children." 

So  God  buries  His  workmen,  but  His  work  goes  on. 
It  was  so  in  Greenland,  for  others  came  to  fill  the  place 
of  the  departed,  and  the  work  spread  far  and  wide. 

Some  trouble  was  caused  by  a  decision  of  the 
Danish  Government,  that  it  was  not  favourable  to 
trade  that  so  many  Green  landers  should  live  in  one 
district,  so  the   natives  were  distributed   along  the 


i6o 


AMID  fJUKKNLANI)   SNOWS. 


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coast,  vvhicli  entailed  much  visitation,  and  a  native 
cvan{;elist  had  to  be  told  off  to  the  special  duty  of 
journeyin{^  to  and  fro  amonj^  them. 

The  history  of  the  work  in  Greenland,  during 
recent  years,  has  been  uneventful,  but  for  a  long  time 
the  Danish  Missionary  Society  and  the  Moravian 
Jirethren  have  been  working  together  with  consider- 
able success.  Christianity  is  everywhere  in  evidence  ; 
the  old  barbarities  of  heathenism  are  abolished,  and 
in  their  place,  the  sweeter  manners  and  happier  spirit 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  arc  seen.  Recent  travellers 
attest  to  the  reality  of  the  change.  Much,  doubtless, 
remains  to  be  done,  for  association  with  European 
civilisation  has  not  been  an  unmixed  good.  More 
workers  are  still  wanted,  who  will  give  themselves  to 
these  people  with  the  abundant  Christ  love  which  they 
displayed,  whose  lives  are  portrayed  in  the  fore- 
going pages.  And  in  God's  good  time,  not  day- 
break only,  but  the  full  meridian  glory  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  will  shine  amid  Greenland  snows. 


TIIK    KND. 


LUKIMER   AND  GILI.IKS,    TKINTURS,   EUlNltURCII. 


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